The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 2 -Defense plays a key

Episode Date: March 3, 2023

Looking at the top players in the upcoming NFL draft The NBA teams who play defense will start to separate   Guest: Lance ZierleinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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 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 what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but the show. celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok.

Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we are, second hour on a Friday.

Live in L.A., it's the herd. Good to have you in. Really good to have you in. I just found out J. Mack. He asked what my daughter does. She graduated six months ago. I said she's kind of finding herself, having fun, in L.A. And you said it took you a while out of college because you wanted to party all the time.

Well, so I knew I wanted to be in journalism. I got an offer from the Washington Post. But it was one of these like, hey, you could be part-time. And I'm like, so you guys are going to call me on like a Thursday and say, hey, go cover this field hockey match. And all my friends are going to be going out of the waterfront drinking. There's no way I'm going to want to work. So I came up to, went up to Jersey and worked at a newspaper close to New York City.

Well, that's fun. It was fun for a little bit, but New York City was a lot more fun. Yeah, so you were a little wild out of college. Yeah, I was 22, and I wanted to have fun. Meet girls, do that fun stuff, yeah. Of course, and you did. That's how you met her at a bar in New York City. How do you know this?

Do my homework. Jeez. You told me. Um, no, I think I, listen or Colin Cowherd. I, listen, I get it. I was, uh, absolutely obsessed child of divorce. So I knew it at eight years. I was like, I had no fun, none.

I was just a head down, get a job, terrified I was going to be broke the rest of my life. Childhood divorce. You go to a therapist. You figure, you know, I had to deal with all that nonsense. But, so I didn't have any fun. I was in Vegas, but I was working like, you know, too much. So, but you went out and had fun. I respect that.

You went out and I went into some debt, uh, you know, because I wasn't making. peanuts as a journalist. These days, they don't want to have to pay back loans. Too bad. Then I started a website and it worked out pretty well. Yeah, you sold it for a lot of dough. Let's settle down on that. So, okay, I used to talk NFL Combine

a lot more than I do now. And I think it's a beauty contest. I don't watch those either. It's a pageant. I'm not a pageant parent. I don't care. So it's a lot of fools gold to me. And I think you can be fooled by, I mean,

Bill Belichick's like, yeah, I'm not going to go. Rams last year. I'm not going to go. I wouldn't go to it. I think you get fooled. All the players are polished. All the players have practiced for it through their agents, the interviews. Even the Wonderlich now, you can study for it. You better not be bad in the Wonderlich. You're studying for it. So Anthony Richardson's a quarterback at Florida.

I don't know how good he's going to be. He can move around a little bit. It looks like a little Josh Allen maybe. But there's a quote here this morning at the Combine that this kid's crushing it. I talked to a handful of scouts every single once at Anthony Richardson's the best quarterback interview they've had this year. Yeah, they said Baker Mayfield in 2018 crushed the whiteboard. And E.J. Manuel, who I interviewed in 2013 before the draft, I fell in love with.

It was the best interview I've ever had with a college kid, and it didn't work. The way I look at interviews these days, they better be good. They practice their agents. They practice with PR people for them. I'm looking for landmines. If they're nervous or quirky or weird or they're stuttering, that would worry me, but they better be good. And I think 99% of them probably are.

Here's my concerns with Anthony Richardson. He just didn't throw the ball much at Florida. Tom Brady threw the ball more this year in Tampa than Anthony Richardson did his entire career at Florida. He just didn't throw the ball much. And when he did, he wasn't very accurate. Now, Josh Allen wasn't very accurate. And he does have the size and the mobility.

And who knows? And hey, he interviews well. But that stuff doesn't mean anything to me. these kids now are so polished at the combine is that you can be fooled. In fact, I think the Belichick's and the Sean McVeys got fooled at this stuff. And you talk to kids and they're polished. Some of these kids don't have a great, great work ethic. And then for six weeks, their agent tells them, get in the best shape of your life and we'll move you up the draft board.

And they get in the best shape of their life. But that's not go look at the game tape. Go look at three years of game tape. If they look soft on game tape, that's who they are. you can get fooled with interviews, especially when people practice them. They're like resumes. Nobody puts their bad stuff and their real life experiences on a resume. It's all the good stuff.

If you have a job as a sophomore in college and you get fired, you don't put it on your resume. I didn't put it on mine. Not saying I was fired in college, but I had a job that went sideways. I didn't put it on my resume. So there you go. I don't know. I don't think it's reality. Speaking of, and this kid could be a good player.

Again, there's a lot of Josh Allen stuff here where he completed 54% of his throws. Josh Allen threw the ball a lot more in college than Anthony Richardson. But hearing that somebody interviews well, folks, when you're running from pass rush, I could care less how you interview. Can you make throws on the run in the NFL on Sunday? That's all I care about. So I saw this story. You know, Jim Harbaugh has a lot of critics.

I'm not one of them. All you sold your stock on the Warriors this year, I bought it and all you sold your stock on Harbaugh and I bought it and all you bought Westbrook stock and I sold it five years ago. I've done well as a broker. Okay, I've never sold my Harbaugh stock. I do think he's a little quirky and he's unique. But John Harbaugh, his brother, with the Raven, spoke about Jim, Michigan and his future the other day. Talked about Make No Oath for the future. You know, I think he's honest about that. That's probably the difference with him and all these other guys who, you know, act like they're not, you know, they're not open about opportunities that come along. You know, Jim, Jim's open about it. I think his players respect that.

His coaches respect that, you know. And he's just an open book, man. He's a fun guy to be around. I saw some of the Michigan guys here. They just laugh about, you know, how fun it is to play there and what a good guy he is. So, you know, I think he's in Michigan for life, probably. By the way, in the last two years, last 28 games, Michigan under Harbaugh, who's been flirting with the NFL for two years, is 25 and 3. Only George is better.

He's been better than Sabin, Davosweeney, Ryan Day, 25 and 3, the last two years, and has taken over the Ohio State series. And they'll be favored again next year, and this year it's in Ann Arbor. and they're returning their quarterback. They'll probably win it again. So the bottom line is the world has changed. Kids do not care about facilities. That was the rage for 15 years. The lockers.

Oregon was at the forefront of that in Texas. Got to have good facilities. Kids don't care about that. Kids care about two things in 2023. Show me the money, NIL, and get me to the pros. And in 2020, Harbaugh got 10 guys to the pros. And in 2021, he got eight. So that's what guys care about.

Give me some money now and get me more money later. And that's okay. Young people, years ago, they were into facilities. Michigan had good facilities. Now Michigan's trying to ramp up their NIL. Harbaugh's not for everybody. He's transparent. I think about this all the time.

If my kid was interviewing where to go to college, I would tell him, the coach may leave. I would tell my son, Sabin may retire, Dabo may retire, Harbaugh may leave. You don't just go for the coach. You go for the culture. You go for the academics. You go for the program. You go for the funding. You go for the momentum.

You go for the school. And Michigan is great at all of those. So it's, you know, in our business, when people are right, they like to tell you. When they whiff, all the Harbaugh critics have all disappeared. They went Loch Ness Monster, Bermuda Triangle. They all disappeared. 25 and three last two years. Only George is better.

That's it. Ohio State's not better. Oklahoma's not better. Ohio State, Bama, Clemson, they're not better. Michigan State's not better. There you go. There are certain people that I see the media turn on and for whatever reasons, Harbaugh can be, you know, the COVID year, they had a bad year at Michigan.

And if you remember, the truth is Belichick had told me, I know somebody that knows Belichick and Belichick had told people during the COVID year. It's nonsense. It's a nonsense year. We can't do anything. A lot of these coaches looked at the COVID year as a chance to rebuild staffs to fix problems. A lot of coaches didn't look at take it seriously. There weren't fans in the stands.

You couldn't do certain things. Our government was trying to figure it out state to state, conference to conference to conference. Everybody had different liabilities and freedoms and restrictions. And, you know, he had a bad, he just basically said during the COVID time, this is a nightmare. It's a mess. I'm not going to take it seriously. I'm going to fix some stuff on my staff. And, you know, the biggest mistake Michigan ever made, never do this, is go to a star coach and ask him to take a pay cut.

One time Nick Saban lost to Oregon and Alabama, stupidly, went to Nick Saban and, you know, they started talking about his salary. He went and sniff the Texas job and they were forced to get him a Mercedes dealership and pay off his mortgage. And Michigan, I don't know about your salary. What was Michigan before Jim Harbaugh? go go look at the attendance and go look at the team he showed up next year they won 10 games now they've been all over national TV selling merchandise everywhere in the country so yeah only george is better kids don't care about all this flirtation stuff they don't kids want you to be authentic and they want to be pros are you a harbaugh guy yes i am you know i heard you say you don't know why like the media

with the whole tear down thing Colin the media as someone who's in and it loves nothing more than to build someone up. Oh, this guy's amazing. He's great. He's amazing. And then tear him down within two or three years. It makes for great content. You could get the off-the-record stuff and pile on.

Harbaugh. It's unbecoming in the media, but that's definitely a thing. Sabin bombed in the NFL. Harbaugh flourished in it. Harbaugh flourishes in college and the pro. Sabin's worked in one. And also, Alabama, Michigan's a very hard place to win. It's an academic power.

It's got a top law school, a top. medical school. It is a hard, not everybody can go to Michigan. They turn down kids. They can't get, you know, it's a, it's an academic power. It's like, what do they call these, a public ivy? You know, like some of these universities are Michigan's one of them. It's not for everybody. It's got hard, hard academics. Remember, there was a stretch where Jim Harbaugh was like a click machine. He would, like, sleep in a, remember he slept in a tree for some recruit or something silly and nonsensical and like everybody's putting it online. So Harbaugh is a click machine. Nick Sabin, click machine. that's why the internet gravitates toward these guys, whether it's build up or tear down.

You know, you don't really see that with the... There's five coaches in college football. If you said tomorrow, five coaches, there's no dispute. They're great. Saban obviously. Lincoln Riley, stop arguing. Boy, he didn't win a title. He's never won less than 11 games.

Jim Harbaugh. Dabot-Sweeney's pretty darn good. He's another guy that media is coming after. But those four, give me the first. fifth that's guaranteed great. I would say it's Brian Kelly and nobody likes him either. Brian Kelly's won at every level immediately. How many coaches?

They want back-to-back titles? No, no. Okay, so we'll put Kirby in there. He didn't have the leg, but Kirby. So we're at six now. I mean, absolutely no refuting they're great. They can recruit, they can coach, they turn it around fast. Chip Kelly? Again, I love Chip, but I don't doubt he's one of the smartest coaches in college football.

UCLA is not a football power. It's harder to win eight games there than it is to win 10 at LSU. By the way, Chip Kelly had more success in the NFL than Nick Saban did. He got a good run with the Eagles. I know. 10, 6, 10 and 6 first two years. Media doesn't like Chip Kelly. Well, the NFL pushback because he's different and contrarian

and doesn't do things the way everybody else does him. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you. you'd like. 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 I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down,

and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now.

Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple, podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

Into your first year, Discover credit cards, double all the cash back you've earned automatically. Everything you earned doubled. Seriously, check it out. Discover.com slash match. J. Mack with the news. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Let's talk a little bit more about Russell Westbrook, Cullen. You know I coach youth basketball. I know you do. Yeah, I hear about it all the time. My daughter's team. We took a tough loss last week. But basically, I've got a lot.

got two first place teams. And one of my strategies is we load up defensively against the good players and the guys who aren't as good, we'll leave them open. Right. Well, the Warriors last night did that exact strategy against Russell Westbrook and Draymond Green talked about it after the games. We got rust to miss some shots, but I think when you have a game playing like that, what that does to you mentally is tough. And I think, you know, it was more so the mental than it's shot. And so I thought, um, I thought, you know, we did a good, job of sticking with the game plan and we was able to muddy the game up for them on or muck it up on the defensive side and it ended up working out for us they look great in the

second half by the way yeah i mean they just didn't guard him here's a rule for all you nba fan boys who read slam magazine and like puff pieces um if you're six-four and can't shoot i'm not interested in me i never bought into the derrick rose phenom or the john wall phenom or the Russell Westbrook. They're talented. You've got to be able to shoot six, four, and under. You've got to be able to hit a three. Otherwise, you're not going to defend. You're not going to rebound.

You're not going to intimidate. When you're a small player, you've got to be able to shoot. You mentioned, well, we talked about Blake Griffin earlier. Remember, he was kind of fading quickly because all he could do was dunk, developed a three-point shot, had like an all-NBA season in Detroit, extended his career by a few years. Yeah. Russell Westbrook doesn't seem to be doing that. Colin, I was watching that.

I thought at one point Russ would look to Tailu and say, yo, just get me out of here. I'm not playing well. I'm a liability. I'm hurting our team. Yeah, he's not going to do that. Self-awareness is sometimes necessary. All right, let me ask you,

they're playing the Sacramento Kings tonight. They've lost four games since Russ joined the team. What do you do if you're Tailu? Do you say, Russ, sit this one out? Let's just get our head right. We'll come back next time. Well, I think somebody in that organization pounded the table to get Westbrook in.

Paul George, we know this. It's time to move off that move. It's okay. This is not a, this is what, fifth team in six years or something? The Clippers have more problems than Westbrook, but he is exacerbating their issues. So Westbrook's a very polarizing player. So what it means is somebody has to bang the table.

So LeBron bang the table for Westbrook. The scouting department said no. The GM said no. And LeBron bang the table. They brought him in. And then they said for a while, you got to play with him for a while. That's your call. So somebody in that organization, Paul George bang the table, and the clippers may be saying,

all right, pal, this was on you. Why don't you let us run the franchise? And all the people who want to say were just bashing Westbrook, that's not what this is. The current iteration of Russell Westbrook is not a very good NBA player. That's right. But we would agree with that. This guy averaged a triple double eight years ago or whatever. He's going to be a hall of fame player.

He's going to be a hall of fame. Good guy. People like him. Great off the court. Yes. Tips well as you read online. Nice guy. Nice guy.

Nice guy. He's a liability right now. Well, he's a smaller player who doesn't shoot well, and those players historically, John Wall Westbrook don't age well. The hyper-athletic player who doesn't shoot well. The guy, Steve Nash, could have played a long time. Kobe could have played for more years. Alan Iverson?

Again, did not necessarily shoot it well. If you can shoot the ball well as a small player, you can extend your career. There's value. Come off the bench, hit threes. So what you get is these smaller. hyper-athletic players, John Wall, Westbrook, Derek Rose. They'll give you about seven years of amazing. They'll win awards. They'll get love from the NBA community. They will age. I mean, John Wall fell off a cliff in two years. He had a couple of major injuries. But, you know,

the problem is when you're so athletic and just you can dunk on anybody, it's tough in the off season. Get in the gym and shoot 500 threes a day. I don't want to do that. I can dunk on anybody. You know, like... Steph Curry's had a lot of injuries. Still wildly effective. John Wall had injuries off a cliff. He couldn't shoot. Yeah, he never could shoot. You've got to be able to shoot. Clay Thompson has had two brutal injuries. He's come back at a great year. Why? Because his game is built around shooting in a shooter's league. That's why Clay Thompson's having an amazing year. He's not the defender he used to be. He's not. So he gave up 30% of his game. He's as good now as he's been in seven years. Why? Because he can shoot. It's funny. The Clippers also picked

up Eric Gordon, remember, in a trade. I think Eric Gordon has more value to them than Russell Westbrook, because one guy can shoot, the other can. Now, courts isn't having a great year, but I would trust him in a big spot over Russell Westbrook, for sure. Next up, let's stick with the Warriors. Yahoo Sports's Chris Haynes is reporting that the best shooter in NBA history and finals MVP, Steph Curry, will return to the court Sunday here in L.A. against the Lakers. Cowherd, maybe you need to get to that game. Big time. Lakers, Warriors, Steph has been out since February 4th with a leg injury.

Wiggins has been out for a couple of weeks, too. He's at a personal issue? I didn't dive into it. Is everybody watching the Warriors what's happening? They have now developed their bench. Devenchenzo, I think you mentioned him last week. He's been excellent. Now, Lamb's getting minutes.

They are commingas getting real minutes. So now... Warriors are fifth in the West. Oh, they're not going to end up fifth. Well, let's see. I mean, it might be tough to pass the Kings. I know you could scoff at that. Here's the standing.

Memphis. Memphis? Memphis. King's going to pull back a little here in the next three weeks. You sure? Well, suns are going to be rising. We know that. Suns, sun's rising.

Warriors rising, Mavericks falling, Kings falling. The teams that don't play defense. Teams that don't play defense. Kings and Mavericks will start falling because defense now matters. You want the six seat. You want to face the Kings. And that's no disrespect to the Kings fans. I've been hyping them all year. That team is almost their entire team has barely any playoff experience. Remember, warriors are in the Grizzlies head. Yeah, I don't like the Grizzlies much with this John Moran stuff and the Dylan. I'm out on them. if you've looked at the odds

to win the championship like Denver I believe is third in the league Phoenix is ahead of Denver odds to win the championship Yokic is a little bit of a problem because the Draymond Green his sort of style doesn't stop Yokic Denver's a weird matchup

the clippers have struggled with Yokic the warriors can kind of struggle with him so Draymond Green takes your best player the Rodman kind of just discombobobble it. Dremont does, that stuff doesn't work against Yokic. So it's, it's Denver's a weird, Yokic is such a unique player. They become an odd match. I think defensively they'll pull him away from the hoop, Dramon setting screens all over, and now Yokic is chasing, which is, that's not great for him, but like you said, he's a triple double machine offensively, tough to stop him.

Yeah, Denver is, I trust Yokic to be good. He's not a good defender, but I'm not sure if I trust the Jamal Murray's. You do, you love him. That guy's so good. Awesome story. I'll send you a story I read about him. His parents have been grinding and since he was a kid and he loves it. He wants all the smoke. Jamal Marie, he's that dude.

Final story. How about the Detroit Lions? Sixth pick in the draft this year. Remember, they made that Matthew Stafford deal two years ago. Now, you have been a massive proponent of Jared Gough on this show. I don't know if you guys have cut a deal on the side. Look at all these throws by golf on the video here. He went to his beach house out here in Hermosa.

They were only eight and nine last year. and the Lions have a tough decision. Are they going to be drafting this high again? So Dan Campbell, their coach, talked about the current quarterback situation. Cowherd, listen up. First of all, golf did a heck of a job for us. Man, he's our guy, you know. He's bought us time here.

We believe we can win with Jared Golf. And in the meantime, we also know he's not going to be here for the next, you know, 10 years. I mean, he's not, you know, it's not like Jared Golf's a rookie. So certainly our eyes are on, man, potentially a quarterback. And the question is, where do you acquire that at? And that's something that Brad and I kick around all the time. But we don't feel like we're pressed right now. We don't feel like we're pressed, you know.

But that doesn't mean our eyes aren't on a quarterback. Well, they have two first-round picks. So they could go get a quarterback, and then they could solve an issue with their, I think, 18-pick or something like that. So you're coming around on it. I'm not coming up. Or they could go get two. defensive starters.

Okay. And they're going to be a 10-win team next year. We believe in this team. They're going to be good. I'll be honest with you. If Aaron Rogers leaves, I have them winning the division. I think Detroit wins the division.

You like to look big picture, macro, step out, the future. Global. This team has a really good nucleus. Some young good players in the trenches. Young skill position, guys. Colin, seriously think about it. They're not going to be drafting 6th.

anytime soon. Well, here's what's interesting. What they really need is an interior defensive lineman, and with the Jalen Carter news, if he drops, that's literally the player they need. At six. I mean, what they need, they have an edge rush. They need a corner and an interior D-Linman, and that's a playoff team. And now the Jalen Carter news may scare a few teams. Now, I'm not saying it will, but if he dropped a little, that's exactly what they need. Because if you watch Detroit play, it's very obvious what they need. They need more speed at linebacker, an interior D lineman, and another good corner. You can see it.

They need those three things because offensively, O-line's good. They could probably use another, like a number two receiver, good backs, tight ends fine. Like, they have a lot of elements. Great O.C. They play hard under Dan Campbell. So Dan Campbell calls you after the show, Colin, I watch. So we're seriously thinking quarterback at six. What say you?

What should we do it? Go get the best defensive player, go get either the best corner on the board or the best interior linemen or the best linebacker. Because I watched you play last year, and you would have been a playoff team if you could stop anybody late. They're thin on defense.

They run out of gas. Jared Goff would have got outplayed Aaron Rogers at Lambeau in that game. You saw it. You watched it in Lambo. You outplayed them. Disagree. Well, no, not on the outplaying.

I think you really have to look at it. If Bryce Young falls a little bit. You're not falling to six. Will Levis? Anthony Richardson, your get ready for the future quarterback. Save some money at QB? You just don't want to do that, huh? Listen, you get what you pay for.

Everybody's talking about saving money at quarterback. You know who's not saving money at quarterback, Kansas City? Oh, come on. There's one Patrick Mahomes, man. You know why Philly's so good? Because Jalen Hertz is on his rookie deal. Talk to me in two years. Philadelphia is good for a lot of reasons.

That's one of them. J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. He's worked for NFL.com for almost a decade, covering the NFL for two decades. He's a radio host in Houston. I've used him for years.

His draft analysis, I think, is top-notch. Lance Zerline, dad coached in the NFL for years. He's a draft analyst, NFL.com. Good to see you, my friend. look at they put you in a tunnel at the combine. They won't even let the poor guy. I know how that thing works there. Listen, if I didn't do this, all you'd hear is wrecks an effect and naughty by nature.

Trust me, that's all they're playing right now with the sound system. Okay, so here's my thing is everybody's talking to Anthony Richardson, but, and there's some Josh Allen stuff. He didn't throw it a lot at Florida, and he wasn't terribly accurate. And my line's always been, if you can't complete 60% in college, I'm out, then Josh Allen comes around. And I'm like, okay, okay, we got a new reality. Shouldn't I be concerned about a guy that really didn't throw much and wasn't accurate when he did?

You absolutely should. And I mean, listen, I missed on Josh Allen because I thought his comp was Jake Locker for the same reason. We had never seen it. I think the problem you run into now is everyone's going to be really quick to act like that Josh Allen outlier is something that could become standard. And so I hear this use with Will Levis and I hear this use with Anthony Richardson. But you have to go in and say, okay, why were they inaccurate? What was the completion percentage issue? This is why you have to watch tape.

Was it an issue with separation of wide receivers? Yes, Josh Allen had that at Wyoming. Josh Allen also did not throw on time. And so a higher percentage of his throws were contested throws, and those turned into incompletions. He also had accuracy issues, no question. I think some of it can be fixed with some mechanical changes, some footwork changes for sure with Richardson. But I think when it gets right down to it, if your natural accuracy isn't good, then it's really incumbent upon the team to get as many good wide receivers who can separate,

who can separate. Don't tell me about the ball skills. I need guys that can separate and open the windows a little wider for Anthony Richardson and probably Will Levis as well. Yeah, I don't think when you watch the tape, he's an easier natural throw. I think it's hard for him, and that's okay. It just doesn't look natural to me. The most fascinating quarterback, well, I mean, I'll just say this.

So when I watched, I like Justin Herbert and a lot of people push back. And they said he's too rigid and mechanical. And my takeaway was he's got an offensive line coach, Mario Cristobal, as a coach, and that offense is run first. So they get to the Rose Bowl, Cristobal knows, well, I'm going to let him run now. I don't have to worry about him. And he's unbelievable. And I have two friends, one of them Tom Telesco, the Chargers GM's like,

he's sitting there on the Rose Bowl going, we got to draft this guy. So I watched C.J. Stroud. And I'm like, he's kind of mechanical like Herbert. And then I watched the Georgia game. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, time out. I didn't know C.J. Stroud could do that. And so I got this Herbert thing with C.J. Stroud. And I'm like, I didn't know he runs like that. Are there comps? Do you like C.J. Stroud? I got to tell you, I watched the tape all year long. I'm watching games. You get through the tape. And it is so strange to go through an entire season. he's okay like I probably wouldn't pull the trigger on him until the middle of the first round if I were a team and then he plays Georgia and it's like who is this guy I mean he looks confident in the pocket he's throwing all the time on time he's always an accurate guy but his ability you just mentioned to Colin this is a big part of it extend the play Ohio State fans know zone read stuff he would never pull and run even when it was wide open and so defenses knew that they just had to crash down on the handoff

And all of a sudden, he's a guy who's getting out of the pocket. He's threatening with his legs. He's extending plays. And it was a completely different thing. And so, you know, mobile quarterbacks, the mobility, you don't have to be a running quarterback, but you do need to be mobile in today's NFL. And C.J. Stroud showed something against Georgia. Not only did he have his best game of his career against the best competition

in a very high-leverage game, but he showed some mobility that is really something that made you think all over again, well, maybe this is going to be the new C.J. Stroud, and I will tell you, I bumped his grade up specifically because of the Georgia game, without question. Yeah, yeah. And I have, again, two GMs were at that Rose Bowl with Herbert and went, wow, that's a totally different player. So, you know, the Bryce Young thing, I said this, certain times in the NFL, when the Rams

went and got OBJ, it wasn't a seven-year acquisition. It's like he can help us win now. There is a play, Antonio Brown to the Buccaneers, not the 401. we're not building our future around it. But he could help us win 10 games. And I look at Bryce Young and I think, if I'm in chaos at quarterback, I don't know how long a little guy is going to last, but boy, he's good.

And so what if I just say, I'm going to draft him, I'm Houston, and I'm going to take my chances. If I can get three great years out of him and give us momentum, build a culture, win games, get rid of chaos. Like, do GMs talk like that? Because I don't know how long he lasts, but man, the tape's good, right? Yeah, I think it's a great question because you really have to ponder who the GMs are, who the teams are, and what is the circumstance of the team?

For the Houston Texans, there is no juice around the Texans. You've got the Astros going to a World Series every year, and here you got the Texans and Rockets just in the dumps. And so you need some juice for your organization. D'Miko Ryans has the city believing again and excited about Texans football. for the first time in a very long time. You had Bryce Young into that equation, and I think you have energized the city with the guy who is, without question,

on tape, the best quarterback, the most heralded quarterback of the class. He's just as a size outlier. If you look at number four with the Colts, they are in a desperate position to win. Chris Ballard, you know, he needs to win. The Colts, Jim Ursay, wants to win. They want to get back to the playoffs.

Straub gives you a chance maybe this year. Richardson and Levis simply aren't ready, but here's Young. and Young is a polished person. He is a face of the franchise qualities to him. And I think he is the most game-ready quarterback in the entire draft. So you can understand why Chris Ballard might like a different quarterback or the Colts might like a different quarterback.

And they may have size considerations as well. But the best guy, make no mistake about it, the best guy right now headed into the league with the fewest questions is Bryce Young. And so the Colts need that certainty as early as they can get it. They've tried the other direction. The Texans need that juice. The Texans, interestingly enough, they could actually afford to be a little more creative if they wanted to and draft defense number two and then see if Levis or Richardson are available at 12

because there's a little longer runway with Domingo Ryan's there. But the Colts, man, I don't think they're going to go crazy to move up, but they really need a guy like Bryshund who can help right now. Now they've got an impulsive owner and he wants wins and he wants them now. Finally, I want you to go back a couple years. I said that I've been telling friends this for the last year or two. I used to try to guess and see if guys would work at quarterback. And I've really come to believe that there's about two guys a decade, Trevor Lawrence, Andrew Luck.

I think Caleb Williams will be this. They're going to win eventually, period. I don't care who their coach is. Everybody else is as good as where they land. And I felt Justin Fields and Tray Lance were that. Trevor Lawrence would succeed eventually at a very high level, very quickly. Mac Jones ceiling. I was not a fan of Zach Wilson at all. And I said, Trey Lance and Fields, they could be really good, but they're not good enough to overcome average. Where are you today on

Justin Fields? Is he what you thought he would be? In ways, yes, and in ways, no. I think that there is an incomplete right now because the pass protection and the weapons are not good enough. I still think there are a lot of things on tape that show that he still has a long way to go as a passer. That's a concern. He's an explosive player. I think only Ryan Poles and the coaching staff know how much he's come, you know, how far he's come forward from the mental part of being a quarterback, the preparation, the mental toughness, the diagnosing part. That's really those guys who are going to be able to diagnose that. But I think with Justin Fields, you know, I still think it's a very interesting question about dealing Justin Fields, taking a draft pick and going Bryce Young, a guy who I think is more

polished in fields and it gives you a reset on the rookie clock. I don't think that's an outrageous conversation like people act. I think it's a very reasonable conversation to say, you know, this is the kind of quarterback. Now, does Bryce Young have the physical attributes to stand out if the weather gets a little bumpy? Does he have that type of arm? I don't know. That's a separate question. But I think Justin Fields, obviously, with Trey Lance, he's still what's behind door number four. Like, you still have no idea. Over the last four years, Collins, he's played one year football over the last four years. That's almost unheard of and at a position where you really need experience to get better. You can't speed it up through simulators and through watching

tape. You've got to be out there going through the highs and lows, and he still hasn't gone through it, and he's with the most quarterback-friendly offense in all of football. So, hopefully this is a year where he gets his shot, but Purdy has muddied that up, and I don't know what the answer is now for Trey Lance. NFL.com's Lance Zerline, as always, my friend, great stuff. We'll talk again during the Ralph. Thanks, buddy. Absolutely. Thanks, Colin. Yeah, his stuff is fantastic. His analysis. You know, think about it in terms of this. Great quarterbacks like Mahomes make the difficult look easy. Guys that aren't going to make it make the easy look difficult. If you look at the Anthony Richardson stuff, he's a fascinating prospect. He struggles on eight-yard stuff. It's hard. Zach Wilson,

very early, stuff out in the flat. Some of this stuff, these aren't hard throws. Now, that one, you're running right, running left, throwing right. But if you watch some of the videos, the stuff that's kind of easy, he makes it really hard. There'll be one here when he's rolling out. And these are not, like right here, that's an automatic throw. He made that thing look hard. Look at this one. Come on.

That's a layup. So the great ones, Mahomes makes hard look easy. That's very few guys can do that. My problem was Zach Wilson very early. Sam Darnold had some of this. By year two, I'm looking at Sam. This is an easy throw. You're making it look way hard.

And so I think Richardson's fascinating. But when you watch tape, when I watched them play a couple of times, I'm like, come on, those are layup throws. Mahomes is a great example. He had a couple of wide open guys in the Super Bowl he threw to. But Mahomes has got so much muscle memory. His dad was a Major League baseball player. He doesn't even think when he throws.

Everything, the layups are just so easy for Mahomes. You're watching the kid there. He's thinking as he's throwing. that is a warning sign. It's one thing if you can't, you know, you're not reading a sophisticated defense. I get that. But if you can't make the easy stuff out in the flat and you can't make it a hundred out of a hundred, LeBron hits a hundred out of a hundred layups.

You can't be missing the layups. So, you know, I talk to a lot of people around the league and agents, and I know someone who was visiting Gainesville a lot during this football season to try to court Richardson. And a lot of agents do. Yeah. And the consensus among, like, a lot of people in his circle was he's not ready. He just, this is one year as a starter.

Come back next year in Gainesville. We'll crush it. He's thrown like under 400 passes in his college career. It's just not a lot. Somebody got in his ear. One person in particular said, you're going to go to the draft. You're going to be a first-row pick. And Anthony Richardson said, I'm going to go to the draft.

It's probably a decision he should not have made. Yeah. All this hype right now is just hype. He's not going top five. Don't believe any of it. That's why the Seattle Seahawks are interesting because with Gino, you could bring the kid in and just say, you're going. going to sit for two years behind Gino and you could probably even trade down a little bit down to like eight nine if someone wants to jump up because Seattle's got their tackles the star running back receiver capable tight ends no offense so Seattle's a place kid we're going to bring in for two years you're not going to see the field because Gino's big strong kid not going to get banged up that one's fascinating to me Detroit as well right I mean I'm going to get behind golf for two years I know a lot of people saying Lamar Jackson and Cam Newton the time out Tray Lance okay Tray Lance barely threw any passing.

classes in college, sitting out, coming to the league, and he's like, you know the people in San Francisco are telling you like, this is this guy, major project two years in. Right. Right. No, I mean. That's what Anthony Richardson would be. And I'm not bashing the kid. He's obviously looks like an Adonis. I mean, he's a beast. No, but it's different. It's, it's, um, Josh Allen made a lot more throws in college. Cam Newton was unbelievable in college. That was a, you know. But, but when you're young and haven't thrown a lot and the easy stuff, look, could he have used another year with 350 throws in the SEC? Probably sure. Also, I'm sure his people said, listen, USC's got a kid that you're not passing, and UNC has a kid, you're probably not going to pass. So at best you'd be third, but what do we know about Will Levison Stroud? And that's the tough part about this process. I like Richardson, I'm rooting for him. I just, major project. Back in the second of the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app.

This is Steve Kavino. And Rich Davis. And together we are Covino and Rich. Covino and Rich. Thanks, buddy. That's right, Covino & Rich, Fox Sports Radio's newest hit show. Heard weekdays from 5 to 7 Eastern 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Every Covino and Rich show is available as a podcast.

Just search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcast and subscribe. I'm such a rockin dude. The show features our unique take on sports, injected with some fun, humor, and relatability. Listen to Kavino and Rich five days a week on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Kovino and Rich, get me your hell, yeah. 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 I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. 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. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jek. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s.

To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really?

Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So in the NBA at the trade deadline, history tells us you become what you trade for and you become what you trade away. And the Dallas Mavericks traded away. Dorian Finney Smith, their best defender, and they're a bad defensive team now. And they traded for Kyrie Irving, a great offensive player, and now a better offensive team. Last night, Luca and Kyrie were amazing, both had 40 plus, but it's not sustainable.

You're not going to get 40 plus from both guys. You're not going to surrender 126 points in winning this league. It was a great night for Sports Center and Slam Magazine. But they are exactly what I predicted. They'll be fun, they'll be dynamic, they're easy on the eyes, they're a blast to watch, and these guys are absolutely top 10 amazing. But in the last six games, they've become a bottom five defensive team, and this is what the league is. You're going to find over the next three months, March, April, and May, the teams that play defense will separate.

Milwaukee, Miami, Boston, Golden State, Memphis has the ability to play defense. teams that don't play defense, Dallas and Sacramento have some rough nights. That's why Golden States now red hot. They're playing defense. They score all year long. They didn't defend anybody. Now they're defending people. They got their rotation fixed. So Dallas is easy on the eyes. They're a lot of fun. But you become what you trade for offense. And you become what you trade away. Dorian Finney Smith, best defender. They can't guard anybody. Here was Kyrie after the win. So it was definitely a different approach tonight for us as a team because we really wanted this. I really wanted this.

But I think like I said, the last time I was sitting up here, I just had to join the party, you know, and just make sure my teammates were going to follow along. Luke was ready for the party. I was ready for the party tonight. And it was one of those games where we had some special performances. And I'm just grateful that the work translated because it could have gone either way. By the way, they played a team that had just played Miami, very physical Miami, the Sixers, a little tired.

You know, you get the back-to-back situation. So it's not that I don't think it's fun, but there's a big, a lot of these teams are fun to watch. Some are built for the play. Milwaukee is built for the playoffs. Boston's built for the playoffs. Golden State's built for the playoffs. I think Phoenix is.

I'm not sure if Denver is. Memphis plays real defense, but now you've got the jaw situation and noise, and you're not a big fan of Memphis. They have depth. I'm not sure who their second score is. Now the John Morant nonsense, I think, is that you've got to keep your eye on that. Yeah, they faded significantly. Now, Stephen Adams is back or starting to play like he used to, which is a key factor.

But the Warriors trampled them in the playoffs last year. Like, I'm not a total believer in Memphis. I think the Warriors are completely in the Celtics and the Memphis Grizzlies head. You can tell when somebody acts like a tough guy, they always call inner scoreboard, adder scoreboard. When guys act tough, they're not that tough. It's the quiet guys you've got to be careful about. Memphis, yap, yep, yep, yep, yep.

And the other thing is Memphis plays like 10, 11 guys. So the great Pat Riley quote is in the playoffs, you have eight ready and you play seven. That's like all you can trust. You really can only trust seven guys in the playoffs. So now Memphis, where they got that energy boost from guys at the end of the bench, the other guys are playing more. I don't know if they'll have enough in the playoffs.

But that's good news for Dallas, my Mavericks. The only thing we strongly disagree with is Denver. You buy them and I don't. I think they'll win a playoff series, but I think if they met the Lakers and LeBron and AD were healthy. Lakers are not getting in the playoffs. Come on. Let's be realistic.

Positive Uncle Collins sees rainbows. The vibes are good with the Lakers. Yeah, sure. Okay. Show sponsored by BetterHelp. Start your journey. Online therapy. Go to BetterHelp.com slash heard.

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 Letter 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 I-Heart 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 unleashes. human potential. Either way, the podcast 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. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick here, 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.