The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 2 - Eric Mangini joins The Herd to defend Bill Belichick

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

Patriots defensive coordinator and Super Bowl champion Eric Mangini joins the show to defend Bill Belichick after he was snubbed from the Hall of FameSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You're listening to Fox Sportsport. Sports Radio. Here we go. It is our number two, and we have breaking news. It's just incredible. So the Minnesota Vikings had Sam Darnold in the building, and they let him go after drafting J.J. McCarthy. And John Snyder, to me, the sharpest GM in the NFL, I mean, as good as anybody in

personnel, went and grabbed Sam Darnold. We told you on this show. that is a major upgrade over Gino Smith. Everybody I talked to, every coach I talked to in the league said, more athletic, Sam Darnold can play. He's finally gotten good coaching. This is great for Seattle. They were good with Gino.

They're going to be exceptional. It's why I picked him as my surprise playoff team. I love Sam. The people who I respect love Sam. A couple calls. And it's like, yeah, this is going to work in Seattle big. So the Vikings who let him go, just fired their general manager.

According to Diana Rusini, Adam Schaefter added this. Throughout the season, there was underlying tension in the Vikings building. It was ugly. And, you know, you let somebody walk like this. You let Sam Donald walk, who since, I've said it, he got Benston, Carolina. And then he got to start again. First time in his pro career, he was benched. And when he was given that Minnesota, that Carolina job, it was no,

late November of 2022, from that moment on, he went four and two there, one in O in San Francisco, 14 wins in Minnesota, Super Bowl this year. He has the highest winning percentage in the league, and they let him walk. And they didn't have to pay him a fortune. I mean, Seattle's paying him a very, very team-friendly deal. But Sam's like, you drafted JJ McCarthy, who I was not a fan of that pick. I kept reading, oh, everybody loves JJ's a winner. I'm like, nah, Donald's better.

So anyway, they fired him. And it's interesting. John Snyder was talking last night. There was a great quote about John Snyder. There was a report, again, by Schefter, that over the last couple of weeks, that Donald's been getting these pain-killing injections before the games so he can play. He's not practicing. And here's John Snyder talking about that.

He hasn't flinched. you know it's kind of like like I think we were all more panicked you know than what was going on than he was he was kind of like look at us like we got three heads like we like what's everybody so worried about

you know? Yeah yeah so he's like I'll be good so I haven't seen a lot of quarterbacks like not throw a ball and then go out and play like that

you know and we've been blessed to be around some pretty damn good ones yeah he didn't practice and he played his best game as a pro so I made a couple calls last night to uh Let's just say some Hollywood insiders.

And there's a lot of talk about a story about an American hero. And now that Darnold's made Michael Jordan's flu game look like the sniffles, I am told there's a bidding war. Casting directors are already working on it. One of the movies they're throwing around will be called Mission Very Possible, starring Sam Darnold. Oh, that's not the only one. I was told last night they're working on another movie.

The Saminator. Yeah. Darnold Schwarzenegger. Oh, it doesn't stop there. Sammy. Rocky, Sammy. Yeah, same steps. Just in the Pacific Northwest.

The Lord of the Ring. People in Hollywood are, you know, Hollywood, they say, is dying. Thank God for Sam Darnold saving it. And with that Eric Mangini, Ghostbuster. Who are you going to call? Okay, Eric Mangini is joining us live and that's this Tom Fooverie. He may be a little early on those calls and he may be a little early. Maybe six or seven days early on that.

Let me start with this. I'll even start with, let's just start with Darry. So the GM of the Vikings just got whacked. And so in my take is there was tension in the building. I think there was some J.J. McCarthy couldn't stay healthy tension. Do you think you've been in this league that when Sam leaves and crushes it, do you think that was part of the tension over the course of a year? Yeah, it was definitely part of the tension.

They could have kept him for $25 million. They didn't know how J.J. McCarthy was going to, A, play because he didn't really play, and how he was going to play coming back from an injury. So for $25 million to have that kind of insurance policy at the most important position, you typically would do it. But I feel like they felt in the building, if he was there, then that would slow down McCarthy's development. It would put an impediment to it.

But in retrospect, it definitely was the issue and why he got fired. Now, I'd say the way that the season finished in Minnesota allowed him to make that argument, losing the game to secure the number one seed, then losing the playoffs like they did. Then it was, okay, he's great in the regular season, but can he really bring us to a Super Bowl? Yeah, and then he plays his best game as a pro and beats the Rams, and you're reminded that your offense struggled. Yeah, that probably made the owner pretty angry. Yeah.

All right, I want to talk about the Bill of Belichick snub. So I would have voted him in. I would have slept on it. I do think, and you have direct knowledge of this, if you have multiple gates on your resume, and you've lost first round picks and been fine, the NFL does not like the takeaway first round picks. They don't like to do that.

They didn't like in 2007 the Super Bowl week, and Roger Goodell has to address the media, and they're asking about SpyGate for a week, because that's the most coveted week of the year in the sport. it's it's you know so like i i get people um that were ticked off within the league and by the way i think most voters probably voted for him and there's probably you know one or two had they gone the other way he would have gotten in but what did you make it a snub let's start that you know bill yeah i thought it was pretty ridiculous said there may have been multiple gates but we're talking

about three super bowls after that and what did he go to six after that and he's got a total of six he's got two as a as a coordinator and and you could say okay it's it's all tom brady that's not true look at tom brady early in his career tom wasn't a guy at the end of his career that he was at the beginning of his career we scored two offensive or three offensive touchdown that first super bowl run and one of them was from drew bledso so so to say it's you know all tom a lot of great coaches have had great quarterbacks yeah and not had that level of success now look I've had my challenges with Bill. A lot of people have.

He's not missed a personality. The stuff that at Carolina, I don't think, has helped him. And the way it ended New England didn't help him. But to look at his body of work versus other coaches and not say he's a first ballot hall of famer, that's just not realistic. And it's because you have some other issue with him that you want to play out, not based off of whether or not his accomplishments merit for a ballot hall of fame, which they obviously do.

You know, the league, the argument is, I mean, the league for seven years warned him, you know, they warned him for years and years, you know this, they warned him for years, years, years, I think at one point you've told the story where you called him and said, you know, stop taping, stop doing that. Could I make an argument if you would have been warned and stopped? But, you know, it's like telling your kid, don't do this, and your kid does that over and over, that's when you get angry as a parent.

Is there an argument that you were warned for seven years the league was warning you to stop? By the way, there was a spy gate two. There was a second spy gate where there was another third round pick taken. Is it maybe we're not talking about spy gate too? Because deflate gate, which I never bought at all, I thought that was insane. But what about the argument? If you keep warning somebody about something and they don't listen, that's where you get into trouble. Yeah, I understand that, but it's not like after that happened, he didn't have success.

Okay. He still had incredible success after that happened. So to pigeonhole the whole body of work under that one time period, it doesn't make sense because there was incredible numbers after that, whether it was superflu appearances, Super Bowl victories. Yeah, I think it comes more to people that have personal issues with him. He's not warm and fuzzy. He didn't endear himself to the media. You know, his whole thing was, I don't care about the media because if I win, they can't touch me. And if I lose, they can't save me. So it was never a big deal for him.

His thing was like, so what? You know? And that doesn't resonate with a lot of people, and the voters are our media members. Listen, I like Sean Payton. Sometimes he leads with his chin, and I've also said you have to be comfortable with conflict if you're a head coach. A head coach quarterback relationships like a marriage. You're in trouble when you stop talking. I mean, that's when you're in trouble. If you don't have this agreement, you're in a lifeless marriage.

Lifeless relationship. I argue with buddies. I argue with friends. That's the reality of relationships. But Bo Nix called out Sean Payton for talking about his injury. What did you make of the whole thing? Yeah, I didn't understand. And I agree with you, Colin.

You do have to be willing to have conflict, but you want the conflict to be constructive conflict, and you want to be, you want to disagree without being disagreeable, ideally. And to call out Bo Nix and to share the personal information, what did it really gain? Like, what was the upside of doing that?

Right. And I understand why Bo Nix then turned around and said, hey, that's not the case. And wanted to state his case. case. And when you look at the end of the season for Denver, does any of that make sense to you? I mean, Sean called the offensive plays, but then fired the offensive coordinator. Sean decided not to kick a field goal and go for it on fourth and one. The difference is a field goal. And he fired the offensive coordinator. And so maybe he's looking for new ideas.

There are other coaches that were fired too. Objectively, the best thing they do in Denver is play defense, which is not his forte. So the whole end of the season doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Maybe you have a different perspective on it, but what's the goal of this, I guess? Yeah, I think Sean too often leads with his chin. I like him, but he's polarizing for a reason. So I've said, my staff was joking with me this morning, that I've never owned an Android phone.

I've always had an iPhone. And I said, my guys are kind of hipsters. And they're like, the Android's got way better tech than Apple, but Apple's got way better branding. News to me. But I said, it's like Mike McCarthy. Mike McCarthy doesn't have good branding.

He's got John Harbaugh's record. People go, Pete Carroll can make the Hall of Fame. He's got a regular season record than Pete. He's been fired less than Pete. The guy's the same playoff record as Pete. My take is with McCarthy, his team score a lot of points. I mean, he won.

Remember the year they had Cooper Rush play five-game start? Dak got hurt. They had one receiver in the building you could trust. They were like top four in scoring. Is Mike McCarthy the classic better than you? John Harbaugh and him have almost identical resumes. We all love John Harbaugh. Mike McCarthy, everybody rolls their eyes at the higher.

What do you make a Mike? I was really surprised. Pittsburgh did what they did. It seems very off-brand for them. And then Mike McCarthy is a good example of someone who does have a good relationship with a lot of people. He's very likable. He's a really nice guy. And he got a third opportunity to be a head coach where Bill Belichick didn't even get a sniff. Nobody even talked to him. Think about how many jobs are open and what Bill could possibly bring the table, he got nothing. But with Mike, he does have really good offensive production.

He's a likable guy. He's all those things in terms of leading your organization. And I'm sure the hierarchy in Pittsburgh saying, okay, this is a guy that can come in and hopefully help us win right now and get over the hump. but it just doesn't seem consistent with how the Pittsburgh Steelers have always done things and how many years do you anticipate him being there? I mean, Steelers coaches are there for, you know, 18 to 20 years. Like, I can't see Mike being there for 18 to 20 years.

Right. You and I both love Mike Vrable. You know Josh McDaniel. I think Seattle's got a better roster. I think Seattle, but I think New England's defensive roster is underrated. I just think Seattle offensively with JSN. I think Seattle's O-lines a little better, especially on the left side. I think Donald's got more experience.

But I think there's no question to me is Seattle makes mistakes. It's a young team. Donald can throw a bad pick. Wouldn't be shocked at all if New England won. I think what's happened here is New England was so bad last year that people just don't think it's possible. They're that good. And I'm like, you guys understand the Chargers are good. the Houston Texans are good

Denver's good well Drake May didn't play well they won all three okay they won playoff games by the way Stafford and the Rams I think the Stafford and the Rams scored 14 points already in the season against the Texans everybody struggled with the Texans

so my takeaway is Vrabel's going to go for two weeks telling these guys nobody believes in you absolutely and I think it's incredibly powerful your thoughts on New England Vrable, a guy you know

facing a team as an underdog, and nobody's given him a chance. Yeah, I would absolutely take New England. I love this story. Ryan reminds me so much of our first run. The amount of guys that they brought in, and this is very similar, we went 5 and 11, and the next

year we bring it a bunch of guys. Vrable was one of those guys. He was supposed to be a team's player, ends up starting. They bring in a bunch of guys from all over the place. They've got a rookie fourth-round draft pick starting at safety. They've got another rookie free agent who's contributing as a pass thruster. And you, you know, they have a second year quarterback.

We had a second year quarterback. They have the light schedule, but the gain all that momentum. We were five and five through ten games and then went out of run. They were much better than us throughout the course of the year. Then they go through this gauntlet of defenses, but it's really about New England's defense. And when you watch them play, they're going to create problems for Sam Darnold. No question. They match up.

They disguise. they bring multiple blitzes. They use everybody. They're playing, the tempo that they're playing with, the energy, all that stuff, it's palpable. And it's fun to watch.

And as much as you have the Hollywood movies set out where you had Ghostbusters, this is the team they saw Ghost Against, and I know it's not Bill, but there's a lot of elements of that in this mix. And there's a lot of things that he's going to have to sort through and people he's going to have to sort through

and this could be problematic for Sam for Sam Darnold. And outside of Jackson Smith and Jigbo which I think they'll take away they potentially double him and say okay the rest of this group is going to have to beat us.

They can hold up in the running game so they're going to create a lot of problems and they're selling the you know you saw the Warriors walking in, they see clanging the bottles from, you know, the old movie, was the 80s movie? Yeah. Great movie.

Like, they're playing into that whole idea of, yeah, we're not supposed to be here. People are probably upset that we're here, but we're here, and we're going to create problems for Seattle. Yeah, you know it's funny. I said this the other day, because I spent 10 years living in the New England region. And there is something about the New England region is that it's very petty. you know, MIT, Harvard, it's a highly educated area. It is not a flashy area.

So I used to tell my wife, Ann, I'm like, for all the money here, you never see a Maserati. You don't see a, you don't see any Porsches. I'm like, there's so much money in this neighborhood, these suburbs, and people are not flashy, and they don't show it. And Randy Moss was the rare, hot, flashy player for the pay. It was a lot of, I mean, even the stars, Gronk, Edelman, were like tough, guys like tough and I think Vrable loves being the underdog and I and I do think you become your region there's never been a Laker team that's great that isn't flashy right like that's just L.A. I think New England feeds off this. I when you were I always feel like it's the smartest region

of the country and they love being disrespectful. Yeah it's it's it's a great motivator in sports and and you would see Michael Jordan he would always look for some way that he was being disrespected as great as he was and all the great teams want that you know that element of they don't believe in us and

even Drake May kind of reminds you of Tom Brady in the sense that he seems like a great nice kid who just is happy to be part of the team and play his role just like Tom was and then you got all these

other guys that were throwaways from their team or they didn't want to sign them as free agents and now they're all together and to some degree so was rable right Tennessee got rid of them he spent a year in Cleveland now he's got this other opportunity and they're all saying okay let's see let's see whether or not you can hold up against us yeah as of today if I made a Super Bowl pick I said it the other day and it can change I have a right to change it would be 2726 New England field goal late. Tough game. Sam's

imperfect. Drake May's not perfect. And it's just Seattle struggles to start a run game and they have to throw and the pass rush. There's a lot of pressure. And remember, I don't think Drake May is Matt Stafford, but Matt Stafford had a lot of success

against Seattle, like a lot. And New England's receivers are better than people give them credit for. Again, they were so bad last year. If you don't watch the Patriot games, you don't understand, win. The Seattle defense, there are ways to attack it, and it's young. So that would be, that's kind of my take. All right. I'm with you, Colin. I think New England wins, and I'm hoping it's close. I'm hoping it's exciting. I don't know for, you know, a Venetary type finish in this one

or not, but, you know, my player comparison with Drake May was Sam Darnold. You know, he just has the benefit of getting Josh McDaniels a lot early in his career than Sam Darnold. got with his sort of coaching, not mentors, but at least the guys that were able to elevate him to what his potential always was. Eric, good seeing you. Have a great weekend. Great seeing you too, Colin. Yeah. Yeah, no, I've gone back and forth on this. I was telling Danny Parkins, I just have this feeling is that I, and some of it was I lived there for 10 years, and I watched every Patriot game.

So you'd just become kind of like fans of the culture and craft and how it was operated. and I mean, think about the Patriot dynasty. Same owner. This team has same owner. Same offensive coordinator. The Patriots never had the most talent. A Super Bowl is a 14-point dog once. And Drake May shares so much of the gratitude and humility and size and arm strength of Brady.

He's a little bit, he's more athletic. But to me, Vrabel is Belichick. He's the current Belichick, super smart, attention to detail, a little gruff at times. We'll fire back at the media. I think he's a little more current. He's a little more player-friendly. I think you have to be today. But I think it's, to me, it is.

It's the start. And what's so ironic is that the start of the first dynasty was the tuck rule game. And the start of this one could be that Denver Blizzard. So I don't know. I think it's really close. And I think, you know, and Seattle could just be an avalanche and overwhelm them. But I, Greg Kossel said this yesterday. people, because they've played a lot of high-profile defenses like the Texans and the Broncos,

people are overlooking how good the defensive personnel is for New England. It is excellent. And Drake May had a really bad half. He didn't play very well against Pittsburgh, if I recall. And he had a bad half against Buffalo. I mean, it's so many games now. By and large, I kind of know what I get with New England. He's got a little bit of a fumble issue, but again,

They've been planning weird weather. Now they're playing in Santa Clara. 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'd like. Hey, it's Ben. Host of The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallor.

It would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking what in God's name is the fifth hour? I'll tell you, it's a spinoff of the Ben Mallor show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture, if you will, a world. where we chat with captains of industry in media, sports and more every week. Explore some amazing facts about human nature and more.

Listen to the fifth hour with Ben Mather on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a...

We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. but this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it

one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad

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

with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories.

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there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset and what it really takes to win on clay. Jenshin win. I mean, she went down at three to Roebuckina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lernerabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now and I actually can win on any surface because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. By the way, Mike McCarthy,

New Steelers coach. We've talked about him today. He was on Pittsburgh radio this morning talking about Aaron Rogers and taking his time to decide if he's a Steeler next year. Here's Mike. This is normal for him this time of year. This has been my experience with Aaron and it's something that I always encouraged him to do. It's important for really all these guys to get away. The Super Bowl is really kind of Monday afterwards. It's just, I think, emotionally for all of us is when the page truly gets turned onto the new year. So I think years just going through his process and, you know, evaluating, you know, what he wants to do moving forward. But Mike, I hope he's coming back.

And I said this earlier that Mike McCarthy has a bit of a branding problem. We do the blind resume from time to time. And the staff said, okay, I haven't seen these. Let's do a blind resume with Mike McCarthy. So you put up McCarthy's 18 seasons, 61% winning percentage, eight division title. those 11 playoff wins and a Super Bowl title. So on the other side, basically Mike is slightly better, slightly worse, toe-to-to-to-with this coach.

Who would that coach be? All right, Mike Tomlin. So when he got hired, my take was Mike is the offensive version of Mike Tomlin. You're not going to get a bad team. It may not be an exciting hire, but Mike McCarthy, Mike Tomlin, I think the same thing. You're going to win a bunch of games capable of winning any division. All right, let's do the next blind resume. Let's see this.

Okay, Mike McCarthy. This coach, he has a higher winning percentage, more division titles. Both have a Super Bowl title. What do we got right here? And that's Pete Carroll. And Pete Carroll, before the raider firing, people would suggest, you know, Pete may get some Hall of Fame boats. And certainly, I think Mike McCarthy offensively is age better than Pete. I mean, he's even in Dallas when Dak got hurt, they won games.

All right, let's do another one. We got a couple here. This is that, you know, Mike McCarthy is a good coach. He's got a branding problem. Okay, this coach has a couple more playoff wins, but not as many division titles. It's a coin flip. Their careers are 18 years. Throw it out there.

All right, John Harbaugh. And that's what I said earlier. It's the same guy. One, we think is great, I do. And the other one, I'm guilty of this, too, with McCarthy. I'm like, he's fine. It's the same resume. We have one more.

Here's one more. All right. This coach, again, it's amazing. How many coaches, 18 years, I haven't seen any of these, fire away. Same coach. Sean Payton, the genius, who's getting batted around this week. Well, Mike McCarthy had Aaron Rogers. Well, Sean Payton had Drew Brees.

So, you know, I think Mike in Pittsburgh, I think people, like not every movie's good fellas. Sometimes, you know, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon made the movie for Netflix Rip. I watched it this past week. It's fine. It's entertaining. Not everything is the Irishmen are good fellas. And not every coach is Sean McVeigh. So if you can't get Sean McVeigh, it's like, you know, Mike McCarthy in Pittsburgh, he's from there. He's comfortable. They're comfortable. Live in Chicago, it's 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 IHard Radio app. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should, call it and well we were thinking i'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before

jonas brothers was this is how you guys remember it going down yes i have a very different memory of this we were talking about a thing a bit for the podcast for people could call in and say hey jonas and then i wrote down on my little notepad hey jonas and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast but thanks for remembering that guys listen to hey jonas on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts or you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smygel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in town. and I know firsthand because I competed there myself.

I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchian went. I mean, she went down to three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now,

and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court-side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Two of the best in the country tip it off on Fox Friday Hoops. Yaksa Lenderboard leads third-ranked Michigan as they continue their fight for the top spot in the nation against Tom Isles. Zos 7th ranked Michigan State Squad.

Tonight, 8 Eastern, only on Fox. That's a banger of a game, Colin. Yeah. I bet Sparty. How about Cooper Flagg last night? Cooper Flagg just turned 19. He's not 20, I think, until, like, next December. He's the best teenager in NBA history.

It's okay to say that. Like, by fine. I mean, when Luca came into the league, I think, by the way, Cooper Flag is a much better defender than Luca. that's not like a stretch. I've said this. Everybody loves Luca.

I think he's great. Knock me for it. But I read an article this week where people are saying he's not in as good as shape as he was when he came to camp is that Luca's one of the few players that plays himself out of shape. How is that possible? Well, I mean, diet and how he lives. But, you know, very few guys are like De Wade, LeBron.

They're an impeccable shape. I always said, Luke is a better version of Carmelo. Not really interested in defense, honestly. Not really ever in great shape. But maybe for a decade, one of the great get-a-bucket guys, he's a better version of Carmelo. And Carmelo was obvious to Hall of Famer. But, I mean, if I said, not in the best shape,

get a bucket for a decade, going to be a top 10 all-time score, unbelievable offensive talent, doesn't care much about the other end of the floor. that's kind of an equivalency. I mean, there's some similarity. I think Luke is obviously, I think his offensive bag is. But Cooper Flagg is an early, a young 19.

49 points. And again, I remember LeBron's first year. LeBron was physically a different, he just different than everybody. I remember it well, is that, I mean, LeBron's first game was in Sacramento. People were all excited for it. LeBron was sensational but early in his career

it was more freight train than shooting Ah, J-Mack with the news No Turn on the news This is the herd line news All right, listen, there's not a lot of breaking news this week but this one is huge Colin this just went down within the last hour

The Minnesota Vikings have fired their GM Quasi Adofo Mensa pretty shocking development. He's been the GM there for four seasons. Vikings have had a good record, 43 and 25, but obviously there is the report, you know, not the report, really,

that Sam Darnold crushed it with the Seahawks and has gotten to the Super Bowl, and of course the Vikings cut him loose. Now, this is how wacky this story is, Colin. The Vikings sent Quasi to the Senior Bowl to scout. He was down in Mobile with Albert Breer and all those guys this week. And they all of a sudden fired him.

Now, he did give a presser this week where he talked about sleepless nights with Darnold's success. And I wonder if that contributed to it. Now we've got a lot of reporters coming out of the woodwork saying, well, there was beef all season. Miss me with that nonsense, okay? These reporters do TV, radio. They're on social media. Nobody has had a whiff of this all season. And to come out and say, well, this has been coming.

No, it hasn't. Okay. Now, I will, in defense of the Vikings, I did look up his recent drafts. And Quasi has not had many home runs in the last few years. This past draft was a total disaster. They basically added no value anywhere. The J.J. McCarthy pick. You've scrutinized it heavily.

Jordan Addison has been good, but he's been getting in some trouble off the field. It hasn't been a great draft. But Colin, I think this guy's going to be in high demand. He's a very sharp, analytically driven GM. He's not going to be out of work long, in my opinion. So he leaves the building and gets whacked. Yeah. Are you of some thought that there's a conspiracy theory with him and Kevin O'Connell?

No, I'm not. But, you know, Sean McDermott got in big trouble for going to his owner and GM and saying, I don't know if we have a Super Bowl window, but McDermott doesn't have the power of Kevin O'Connell. Kevin O'Connell may have gone to the owner and said, we don't have enough good players. I mean, again, when the coach has power, they win over G. I'm not saying this happened. I'm saying Sean McDermott got in trouble, but Sean McDermott needed to get to a Super Bowl,

and there had been a lot of people, myself included, who said that he better get there. Kevin O'Connell's thought of very highly. Here's the other thing, is that this general manager may have pounded the table for J.J. McCarthy. I didn't get it. I'm not going to say, I said before the draft.

I liked Bo Nix. I like Caleb. I like Drake May. I like Jaden Daniels, I like Pennix. I said, I like all of them. I wouldn't draft. I was not a J.J. McCarthy fan. I mean, here's the thing.

The Vikings had Darnold. They also had at some point Daniel Jones, who played very well when he was healthy this year. Well, again, let's pump the brids. So Daniel Jones had half a good season, then started to come back down to Earth, then popped his Achilles, okay? And just to be real on Sam Darnold,

and not defend the Vikings. I'm not a Vikings fan. Let's be real. Donald had one good season, Colin. That was it. He had one really, really strong season. And, like, I'm not surprised they moved off of him. Like, he ended the season horribly.

He was very good, but it's like, we're not judging guys on one season now, are we? Well, I would get that if J.J. McCarthy, I mean, again, they must have felt very strongly about J.J. McCarthy. Yeah. You know? Somebody loved him besides Jim Harbaugh. You know? Somebody in Minnesota really liked him. And now he's got to deliver it.

Listen, I know we both love. Kevin O'Connell and a couple of people here at Fox know him well. Zero career playoff wins. Same number as you and I. Okay? Let's move on to the next story. And that's Joe Brady in Buffalo. We're going to talk about him.

Well, one last time Joe Brady, obviously big, big pressure this year as the bill's coach. Obviously, he's got the MVP quarterback and Josh Allen. Brady talked about his approach at his introductory press conference. I didn't take this job to shy away from expectations. I sure as hell did not do that. I'm embracing it. I'm understanding it. And I'm meeting it full on.

I know what I slend up for, and we're going to embrace it because no one rises to low expectations. I want what the city wants. I want what Mr. Pagula deserves. Who wrote that, Chad, GPT? Well, I mean, come on. The guy's crying during the... I don't know. You're very critical.

Sorry, I'm a Jets fan. Come on, I've got to find some humor in this. This is the most we've ever talked about Joe Brady in the last, you know, how many years we've been doing this together? Three? Yeah. I mean, Joe Brady better. Go get some wins. And news flash, yes, we are going to be talking about him in headlines in the final hour.

That's called a tease in the industry, big guy. Final story, let's go to the Baltimore Ravens, and there's splashy hire Jesse Minter coming from out here as the Chargers, D.C. He will now have quarterback Lamar Jackson at his disposal. When talking about Lamar this week, Minter did not hold back praise for his quarterback. Mark and I've had multiple conversations. It's been great. It's been great to get to know him. I think relationships take time.

I just look forward to connecting with him, helping him become the best version of himself, creating a team identity that allows him to thrive, which he's already proven to be an elite, one of the best player in the National Football League, and put a team around him that allows him to reach that ultimate goal of bringing a Super Bowl back to Baltimore. Maybe it's me, but just the difference in appearance,

Minter's got the side part, the ties not really snug up against the neck. He just looks like somebody I want to talk to and listen to. I'm not bashing Brady, but he had like a haircut I had when I was like 22 years old. Minter looks like, he just looks like he's got his act together. I'm rooting for him. Not that I'm against Brady, and now I'm going over the overboard. It's interesting. You know, you got Josh Allen and Lamar in these Super Bowl windows.

I mean, we thought, I don't know if you did. we didn't work together at time. A lot of people thought that the Seahawks window with Russell Wilson and that stacked roster, we thought that was like a seven-year window. And it closed after like three. You're like, they're great. Super Bowl. Another.

Boom. You know, you get drama in a locker. Look, Philadelphia this year. We're like, this locker room is stacked. All of a sudden wrong OC in Philadelphia. Literally had halves where they didn't complete a forward pass.

So, I mean, Baltimore now, the story about Jesse Mentor, the cap hit for Lamar. Lamar wants to be the highest paid quarterback in the league. Well, he's not the best quarterback in the league, so that is going to limit the roster. John Harbaugh got Lamar Jackson on a rookie contract, and he struggled to get him to a Super Bowl. He struggled to get him to play well in the postseason.

So Jesse now is going to have a massive cap hit with Lamar Jackson. Well, there's just limitations on what you can do in free agency. I mean, part of the New England story this year, the Denver story, you know, is you can go, you can go buy players. I mean, when Stafford signed a team-friendly deal for the Rams, they went and got Nate Landman and Devante Adams and those kind of players.

So I think, I think that Baltimore job, it's a gold standard job. But when your cap hit is 28% or something like that, whatever it is, think about that. Over a quarter of your roster, you're paying one guy and you've got 54 other dudes. It's just hard to win. Alan, you can only take one. Which of these teams is making the playoff next year?

Bills, Ravens, or Chiefs? It's not easy. Remember, Mahomes, conservatively out at least two games, maybe three. Probably, bills. Probably. But again, his cap hit goes up $20 million. Josh Allen's cap hit. I don't remember the exact numbers.

I think it's like 36 to 56 or something. It goes up. So that's just a huge advantage for Bo Nix and Drake May and look at the NFC right now. Look at what the Chicago Bears did with their roster when Ben got Joe Tuny, maybe the best O. Lyman in the sport. Drew Dalman, Great Center.

I mean, they went and got, they drafted well, so they hit on draft picks. They totally changed their offensive line. They hit on the right tackle. Was that the year before, that right tackle becomes really elite, and all of a sudden you look up and you're like, man, Chicago's got.

Chicago's got dudes. By the way, C.J. Stroud in Houston, still on the rookie deal, has a lot of guys. That's a dangerous team. Houston next year in the AFC. J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Hurd-Lie News. I was looking this morning at the NFL standings and the changes I would make because I have no life to my next year predictions that I was just jotting it down. And, you know, it's like the giant, Vince and Tennessee are the two teams. I said, oh, those are going to be playoff teams.

Because on average, it's four. And so I thought, okay, New York Giants are going to make the playoffs. I think Tennessee is going to be really, really interesting. But it's hard because if you have a really good coach, I mean, if you go look at the 14 teams that got in this year, there's a lot of good coaches and either a lot of really good quarterbacks or really capable quarterbacks on rookie deals. Well, Drake's still on a rookie deal.

Beau's still on a rookie deal. Caleb's still on a rookie deal. C.J. Stroud. Like, it's, we talked about this. If you go to the final four playoff teams, not a single team had a quarterback with a top 15 cap hit. Like, there is, I mean, what is Bo Nix's cap hit?

Like, four or five percent of the roster? You can just, I mean, lower than that. Like, Drake Mays is, like, tiny. We just let you go spend all. You can just go buy good players. years. So, I mean, it's Bo Nix. Here it is. Bo Nix in Denver. So next year, Lamar Jackson could potentially be 26, 27 percent of the cap. One player. Bo Nix next season is 1.5 percent of the Denver Bronco cap. Maybe that's why he's feisty. I mean, he's, that's free. That's a free player.

and he was the first round pick. That's a free player at the most important position who's great in the fourth quarter and super productive. So when I say, I don't think Lamar Jackson's going to make a Super Bowl against. Don't knock on the Ravens. I think Josh Allen probably makes a Super Bowl, but I don't think he'd win it. Right now, the top jams in the league,

and there's good ones in the AFC. A lot of them are in the NFC. So Lamar's cap hit next season, as of today, is 15 times higher than Bownex next year. I mean, you tell me what are the roster going to look like? That's, I mean, when you look at Seattle's roster, I like Sam Donald. They don't have any holes.

I mean, they're missing a really good number two running back in the Super Bowl. They don't have a lot of holes, not a lot of places to attack. Our number three on a Friday. It's the hurt. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin.

And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions.

Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was part of you.

You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come into it. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your This week on Crimless, Rory and I welcome a very special guest. When I did podcasts, I wear my sleep masks. I like where this is going. So if you guys will indulge me. That's right, the incredibly talented and hilarious Will Ferrell on an episode dedicated to crimes committed by people named Will Ferrell. You're good for 300 crimes? Yeah.

We got two. I'm ready to go right up to present day. Listen to Crimless on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.