The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 2 - NFL

Episode Date: July 26, 2023

What to expect from Aaron Rodgers and the Jets Is Bill Belichick in danger of being fired? How players deal with adversity in the NFL   Guest: Greg BedardSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's our number two here on the herd, Jason McIntyre in for Colin Cowherd. Your favorite radio host will be back tomorrow from vacation. So for the next two hours is just me and Alex Curry. And a couple guests we got dropping by, right, Alex? Oh, it's going to be a great time. It's also USA Day. We got USA taking on the Netherlands tonight, a rematch of the 2019 World Cup Final. You watch him?

Of course. There we go. You better. I mean, there's really nothing. It's weird. People keep pestering me about this diners and drive-ins thing. And I was thinking about my TV habits. And it's like, I know there's a sporting event to watch tonight.

So I'm going to tune in. I don't just like go and channel surf. That's like a thing of the past. If anything, when I'm sitting down to work, I'll turn on, I'll go right to HBO and then go through all the movie channels. Yeah. And see if there's like Moneyball is on in the background when I'm working or Wolf of Wall Street. Have you checked out diners drive?

I don't even know where that channel is. Do yourself a favor. Just go on YouTube and watch a couple, okay? Yeah, okay. Give it a chance. Sure, yeah, I'm on that. I will get right on that today, Alex, just for you. All right, we got Greg Bedard stopping by here in five minutes.

He is covered the Patriots for a long time and also knows Aaron Rogers, so we'll probably squeeze in a thousand Jets questions. But first, before we get to Greg, I need to quickly talk about Sean McVeigh. Obviously, a very, very good coach, took the young Rams to the Super Bowl. Bowl. They ended up losing to the Patriots. It was a humbling moment for him. Then they end up going back and getting an awesome win.

Then McVeigh was going to retire. And he ended up coming back. And the Rams had, you know, I think the worst year for any defending Super Bowl champion. Season one off the rails. And it appeared as if their strategy of, hey, we're going to load up on a top end talent. And we're just going to try to win that way. we don't care about draft picks. It kind of fell apart.

Were they one year wonders? Sure, but they got a Super Bowl. Who cares? You can't take that away from McVeigh. But right now, expectations are very down this year for the Rams. I have been probably too negative on the Rams on this show. And Coward, of course, kind of likes the Rams this year. He's got a lot of connections here.

So he's like pumping up his team to his friends. But I guess words gotten back to McVey that everybody's down on the Rams. So McVeigh was asked about the Rams projected wind total of six and a half, which is one of the lowest in the NFC. Here's his response. What do you think of that six and a half key win over under? Whatever I say, I'm going to get in trouble right now. They don't believe in us.

Well, they don't believe in you for a reason, Sean. They're devoid of talent. The offensive line is not good at a whole. I mean, last year it was an abomination. Two years ago when they won the Super Bowl, excellent offensive line play, everyone was healthy last year, injuries and ineptitude. So, okay, fine, maybe the offensive line is marginally better than last year. Are you ready for this?

The defense for the Rams has, and I'm looking at the depth chart, has one guy that is a household name in Aaron Donald. The rest of it is largely unknowns. I saw a stat that the Rams are going to have 40 rookies, 40 in training camp, higher than any other team in the league. Like, this is a rebuild. Any way you slice it, this is a rebuild. Now, I did have a buddy come after me yesterday on social media saying,

Jay, well, last year the Seahawks had a low win total and they eclipsed it. And then I, you know, I said, like, listen, when you face the Rams twice and you don't have to face Matt Stafford because he was hurt, yeah, that's two easy wins. Like Seattle had a charm season. And then, oh, by the way, they faced the Jets Mike White, who was, I think the third string quarterback to start the season. Like, they face him late and then they sneak into the playoffs. Like, Seattle had a charm season.

season. They got a little lucky. You need some luck. The Rams are going to need massive amounts of luck. And I don't, listen, I like McVeigh a lot. I'm a fan of him. I think he's one of the better coaches in the league. It doesn't matter what he says to the media about this, but it 100% happened. They tried to get Matt Stafford to take a pay cut and rework his contract. I said this on the show in January. It wasn't reported anywhere. Matt Stafford said that's not happening. I'm sorry. Figure it out. It's what the front office has to do. And then they were upset and they were like, what are we going to do? And they tried to trade Matt Stafford.

And there were really no takers. And then what they do? They ended up dumping Jalen Ramsey. Could they get anything? No. That's how I won a steak dinner off Colin. I told you they were not getting a first. He thought of first.

They ended up getting like a third round pick. Like this is a team in transition. If they win six, I've said it multiple times this week. The Rams are closer to the Caleb Williams sweepstakes than they are to making a wild card game. And I know the NFC is down. And I like Stafford and I like Cooper Cup. There's just not a lot of talent on this team.

All right, let's get to our guest, Greg Bedard, Boston Sports Journal. He's an entrepreneur. He used to work in the media, newspapers that he started his own site. Very smart. I've known Greg for years. Greg, how are you, man? Good. What's up, Jason?

You know, I was just kind of bagging on McVeigh for getting upset with the media saying, oh, they don't believe in us. Hey, we're underdogs. Like, Greg, you've known this league for a while. This Rams team does not have a lot of talent. they don't have any talent. And can the quarterback even throw the ball? Like, what's the status with his elbow?

I mean, there are a lot of things wrong with the Rams. Look, they went for it. They pushed the chips into the middle of the table, worked out for them. But now they're paying a pretty serious price. And you're totally right. It's a complete and utter rebuild. And I agree with you. I think they're closer to Caleb Williams than they are to a playoff berth without question.

And maybe that's the avenue that they should go. Just full tank. Yeah, I like it. Thank you for agreeing with me. I love people when they agree with me. Makes me look good. All right. So now let's get to something I don't know if we're going to agree on.

We'll start. Even though you cover Boston and the Patriots, we're going to start with the Jets because you covered Aaron Rogers in Green Bay. You know him well. I got to say, Greg, he looks and sounds like a different human being. Maybe it was the ayahuasca. Maybe it was the darkness retreat. Maybe it was just a change of scenery from Green Bay to New York.

But all these interviews, he's like being genial with the media. He's vibing with the young guys. Like, what do you think got into Aaron Rogers? Well, I think overall, it's the biggest thing is change is good for people. That, you know, you change your scenery, change your teammates. You know, I think a lot of that stuff goes on. But also with Aaron is, as he's gotten later in his career, you know, look, he, he likes to be talked well of. He likes to be stroked.

He likes, you know, and the jets have rolled out the red carpet for him. I mean, it is the Aaron Rogers show. and he at this stage in his career, you know, he loves that stuff. I mean, all the sound bites coming out in New York are great. You know,

I do wonder long term, you know, how well this works, because if you look at guys like Tom Brady going to Tampa, Peyton Manning going to Denver, those guys like worked nonstop, pulled the whole team around, like everything,

they made it their responsibility. That's not Aaron's MO. Aaron's MO is to be like, look, your job is coaching, your job is being, the GM, like, I'm just here to play quarterback. Is that enough to bring up a whole organization?

I'm not sure. Interesting. Now, we did see Russell Wilson kind of struggle last year in a change of venue. Brady, I think, was seven and five in Tampa before that by week, come to Jesus moment or whatever happened down there. What are expectations for you and Rogers and the Jets? I know they have a tough schedule at the outset. They really kind of sort of need to beat Buffalo opening night before going to Dallas in week two. Yeah, they have a really tough start.

And look, when you bring in a new quarterback and a new offense, you have to know that there is going to be an adjustment period. And it usually takes about half a season, you know, even longer for Brady and the Bucks. I mean, for a while there, it looked like they were going to struggle to make the playoffs. But all of a sudden, things started to click and we know what happens. It's, can you survive the first eight to 12 games of the season with so much new stuff? That's a big question with the Jets. I mean, in New York, in Tampa, you could deal with that stuff. You know, how is the New York media and the fans going to react if, say, they start two and five?

The season is not over, but, you know, the circumstances in New York, it might feel that way. Yeah, especially with Sala on the hot seat, you know, tough division. One more team before we get to the Patriots, Miami Dolphins in the AFC East. The range of outcomes, it feels, for Tua and McDaniel this year is like, boy, Two might get hurt again. They're a 7-8-win team. Or if he's healthy, man, they look good last year. The offense was humming.

They add Jalen Ramsey, Vic Fangio. I mean, would you be stunned if Miami was in the Super Bowl, say, in February? No, not if two is healthy. And at least they have a better backup situation this year, as opposed to last year with, you know, Teddy Bridgewater couldn't stay healthy. Then they had to go to Skylar Thompson. I think the world of Vic Fangio, to me, that is one of the biggest acquisitions in the entire NFL, and then you give him Jalen Ramsey, who people are down on him,

but a lot of it was the circumstances with the Rams. To me, he is still an elite top three cornerback in the league. And that defense was terrible last year. 24th in the league, they were not good. You bring in Fangio, you put Jalen Ramsey in there. You know, you have guys like Jalen Phillips who are about to take a big leap at edge pass rusher. I think that team, if they stay healthy, that team has a chance to be dynamite.

Wow. All right. Let's go to the worst team in the AFC East. I had to. I'm sorry, I had to. You guys have been on top forever, the New England Patriots. Listen, I don't know if you started it, but I know you're at the forefront of this because you know the team as well as anybody. But this Belichick hot seat stuff, I understand there's some pressure. I'm sure Kraft is unhappy, but great, I just find it really difficult that they would just fire Bill Belichick. It just seems unfathomable to me. Maybe they kick him up, theirs to a consultant role. I know he's chasing the record for Shula for wins. I don't know. Where are you on the Belichick stuff right now? So, you know, Bill was on the hot seat at the end of last season. I mean, you know, from the people that I talked to, the people around Robert Kraft, Robert Kraft was very upset at what happened last year, especially with what went down with the offensive coaching, Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, which is a complete, just, you know, unforced error by Belichick that tanked the season and going into the meeting with Kraft after the season, Kraft needed to hear the right

things about that changes were going to happen, especially on the offensive side of the ball, or he was going to make things uncomfortable for Belichick. Belichick did fall on the sword. He did admit that he screwed things up on offense, and he's getting another shot. We'll see what he does with it. Do I think he would outright fire Bill Belichick? No way. Robert Kraft is trying to get in the Hall of Fame. You don't want sort of your final act before that is you run off the greatest quarterback of all time and the greatest coach of all time.

I think if this goes poorly this season and they have a very tough schedule, you know, they could be better but have the same record or worse this year. But if it goes poorly, I think you're more in a situation where Kraft maybe starts taking some responsibilities away from Belichick. And how does Bill react to that? Does he just quit? I don't see a firing ever happening here. But something else? Yeah, that could happen. I'm just curious.

So if Kraft is getting on Belichick's case, hey, man, what happened with the quarterback and the offensive coordinator? You busted that up. I don't know how their relationship is, but would Belichick ever say to him, well, hey, you made me get rid of Garapolo many moons ago.

Like, you want to just call the shots? Like, I can see Belichick being gruff and pushing back. Because if I remember your reporting was, you know, Brady went and was like, get Garapolo out of here, and Kraft, you know, made him trade Garapola. Well, it was more along the lines of Brady wanted security. He wanted that contract extension.

He wanted to know that he was number one. It wasn't about Jimmy. He would have taken a contract. If a contract said that he was the franchise quarterback for the next five years through 2022, he would have been fine with that. But Bill wouldn't do it. So then, you know, Kraft basically figured out a way that Brady got his security by Garapolo being gone.

Now, yes, Bill could throw that in his face, but Kraft could just come back and say, well, why didn't you just go and get another guy? He could have drafted Lamar Jackson the next year and just continued on. But instead, he threw a temper tantrum, didn't do anything at quarterback to the point where Brady got out and they had to go to Cam Newton. So Bill is just as been as much of a problem in this whole transition as anybody. Wow, spicy stuff. So listen, you don't want to put too much stock in seven-on-seven stuff. But before the show today, I saw that Mack Jones's first pass, first pass at camp was intercepted. Ha, ha, ha, Mac Jones.

I don't personally believe he's very good. I thought the rookie year was built on bad defenses that they faced. And it was solid, sure. But when he stepped up in class against a good teams, he, like, didn't deliver, especially in that Buffalo playoff game. I don't know. Where are you on Matt Jones? Like, is this a prove-it year for him?

or could Belichick be thinking, you know what, Garapolo's not long for Vegas? Maybe he comes back to New England. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, long term, everything's wide open. But this is a, you know, huge season for Mack Jones. I like Mack. I think he's very talented. You know, rookie year, he was very tightly stage managed by Josh McDaniels,

which is the route that they wanted to go. They didn't want to put the rookie out there too much. And, you know, I thought he had a fine rookie season. You looked for them to build on that. But, of course, you know, Bill screwed the whole thing up. and screwed up everyone's sort of ascension in his second year. And so now they're starting with a fresh start. And, you know, can they get back to where they were after his rookie season?

I think Mack is fully capable. I think Billy O'Brien is capable. You just wonder, do they have enough horses at receiver? Tackle situation is extremely tenuous. They haven't done anything there. So you just wonder, is there enough for them to get the job done? in, you know, some of these higher scoring games that they are bound to have even in their own division. So you're talking about right tackle. I'm looking at the depth chart. I see if Jet is the backup.

Is Rife the kid from Minnesota? Riley Reef, yeah, he's been around. He's well-traveled. A lot of people are surprised he's still in the league. They signed a backup from Denver, Calvin Anderson. Connor McDermott is the Jet you're talking about, who is basically a third tackle. And then basically all their hopes and prayers rest on Trent Brown being a good left tackle, which has not gone well for a lot of people outside of 2018 his first year with the Patriots. Other than that, he's never met expectations, even though he's extremely talented. Wow.

That's a little disappointing. I guess I would wrap up with this. You know, you see the Kansas City Chiefs ascending, and they seem to be doing the same model of coach and quarterback. and, you know, we have a good tight end in Kelsey who's like Gronk. And then every year the Patriots were kind of morphing. Hey, we're just going to pull this wide receiver in out of nowhere, and he's going to plug in our system and be great.

And it seems like the Chiefs are doing the same thing. I'm sure you saw that Cadarius Tony needs surgery. And, hey, next man up. And it feels like the Chiefs are going to be fine. I'm just curious. Do you think the Chiefs can do what the Patriots did and build like a 10, 15, maybe 19-year dynasty with Reed and Mahomes? Well, it depends how long Reed stays on and who's the next guy.

I mean, the Patriots were lucky that Tom and Bill were sort of ascending at the same time and none of them were going anywhere and they could stay 20 years together. That's very, that doesn't happen very often. And you just wonder how long Andy can keep doing this. But there's no question that, you know, you have Patrick Mahomes, who's the, you know, the rising Tom Brady who sort of makes everything okay for the team. And those guys are extremely rare. His competitiveness, his drive is just like Brady. And so, you know, the sky's the limits for them as long as, you know, Andy or at least if they have a guy who was ready to step into the role when Andy's done, yeah, they can do a lot of great things.

They could even, you know, tie or surpass the Patriots given time. Wow. So Reed looks like he's 65 years old. You don't think, what do you think, five more years? I mean, I don't know Randy Reid at all. I've never interviewed him. Do you get the sense that he's sticking around for the long haul or maybe just a few more years? I think he's like Belichick.

I don't think these guys are going to ever step away. I think they're going to coach to the very end. This is what they do. They are football machines. It's all they know. And I don't see them stopping of their own volition. All right. Greg Bedard, founder of the Boston Sports Journal.

As a Patriots podcast, you must listen to, especially if you're a Jets fan like me. Greg, thanks and continued success, buddy. Thanks, bud. All right. Greg Bedard, good stuff. Alex, very negative on the Patriots. I kind of love it. I'm sorry.

It's honest. I love a good, hard, honest take. It's good to hear every now and then. All right, coming up next, should Patrick Mahomes be upset? He's now the eighth highest, that can't be right. Eight highest paid quarterback in the NFL.

And Alex Curry has the latest on Josh Jacobs holdout in Vegas. You're listening to The Herd. One more herd. The Herd. Games 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. 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 which I'm 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.

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Seriously, see terms and check it out for yourself at Discover.com slash match. So on the heels of that Joe, not Joe, sorry, Justin Herbert contract, Patrick Mahomes, who signed a couple years ago, his contract ticked down. Now we've got the list of the highest paid quarterbacks in the league. It may surprise you because one would think like, oh, geez, Patrick Mahom, best quarterback. He's got to be the highest paid, but that's not how it works. It's a market-driven situation. And because Justin Herbert just signed the new deal, he is now the highest paid quarterback. but here's what's a kicker.

Mahomes is now the eighth highest paid quarterback in the league. That may surprise some people. So Lamar Jackson's up there because he just signed, right? Jalen Hertz just signed a new deal. So every time a new quarterback signs, somebody gets knocked down a peg. So Mahomes keeps getting knocked down a peg. Well, Joe Burrow is going to be next, the Cincinnati quarterback. He's going to sign a deal that's going to top Herbert's, understandably.

But when do we get to a point where Patrick Mahomes, decides, I'm not happy with this. Like, I've got the MVP's. I've got the Super Bowls. Why am I behind all these guys? Now, this gets down to the person. Like, what's inside of you? What do you internally care about? Now, famously, and we've talked about this for 15 years, 20 years, Tom Brady did not care. He did not mind taking less money and winning Super Bowls. And, hey guys, let's reallocate the money I'm not making to other players and let's restructure my deal all the time. Essentially, Brady was the ultimate team player. And I totally get that. Now, I'd love to talk to some quarterbacks of his time who every time Brady took less,

they suddenly could not ask for the world because Brady wasn't asking for the world. You can't ask for that much more than Tom Brady, unless you're beating him all the time. Right? So where are we headed here? Like, okay, Joe Burrell's going to be one. And now Patrick Mulho Holmes is nine. Patrick Mahomes is the ninth highest paid quarterback. Now, I know we just saw the Jalen Brown contract in the NBA and that's a little wacky. And people are like, oh, Jalen Brown, that's strange. Why isn't it LeBron or Yokic? Listen, this is how the market works. Now, what's really interesting is, and I don't have exactly where Travis Kelsey is, but he's not one of the highest paid tight ends in the league. At least I don't think he's top three. And Travis Kelsey clearly

is utterly dominant tight end. It's like Kelsey, Kittle, a couple other guys in the mix. And you're seeing the success of the chiefs with Mahomes and Kelsey is two of the constants. Andy Reid is a constant and everything else is just revolving door. Chris Jones obviously is asking to get paid. He wants a lot. He wants Quinn and Williams money. But it gets interesting because of the greed factor. That can break up this dynasty if Patrick Mahomes one day decides, you know what?

This isn't right. We need to restructure. Now, again, it's tough for me to put myself in Patrick Mahomes' shoes. his father was a professional baseball player, I think, with the Mets, and he did well. And probably Patrick Mahomes grew up in a nice setting where he wasn't, you know, hard up for money. Some of these other guys may not have grown up with that. And they want to really capture as much as they can. And we all know quarterbacks much longer career.

A guy like Chris Jones, you know, is he going to be in the league at like 35? I don't know. Defensive tackles, defensive ends, a lot more contact, a lot more injuries. Patrick Mahomes could play like Brady until he's 40. Mahomes could be just capturing money for the next 15 years, and it's nothing. So it's a weird dynamic setting up. We know Daniel Jones went into that room with the Giants, specifically Daniel Jones's father,

and essentially went to agents that were like, this is what we want. I want this. And it's like, okay, Daniel Jones, is he greedy or is he doing what we all should do? Hey man, this is your second contract. Go for the world. Shoot for the moon.

This is generational wealth. I can't fault them for that. But I do think on some level Mahomes should be applauded for not necessarily taking less, but not asking to be the highest paid quarterback in the league. It shows maturity. It shows he wants to win. Man, every time we talk about Patrick Mahomes, Alex, it's like really great stuff. And the guy, he just keeps coming up golden, right?

Well, we talked about this. I think it was yesterday. There's really two ways that an athlete can go about. how they want to get paid or do they want the rings. And you can't fault them for whichever they choose because you have such a small window to be a professional athlete. You can either go for as much money as you want to get or maybe not take as much and your focus is winning championships no matter what sport you're playing.

And not every athlete necessarily has the ability to do that. As you mentioned, Mahomes grew up with a professional athlete father. Tom Brady was married to the number one supermodel in the world who I think actually made more than him. So there are great sides of being the best at your position and wanting to continue to win championships, get rings, and surround yourself with the talent you need to get there. But you can't fault guys who know that you only have a small window

to earn as much money as you can playing a sport to go out and get that. And let's be real, like the Mahomes one's easy, the Herbert one's pretty easy, Burroughs going to be easy. Like give the guy a lot of money. Hertz was a little tricky. He basically did it for one year. And the real test bunny, Alex, is going to be Tua. If he's healthy this year, puts up massive numbers and the dolphins like, go to the

AFC title game. Then you've got like a, wow, is this, I mean, is Tua in line to be a massively paid quarterback off one season with an injury history? And it's like, that's going to be an interesting one. Like, we know Burroughs going to get all the money in the way. He's going to probably make more than Justin Herbert. Well, he should, right? Went to a Super Bowl.

But these quarterback salaries, man, they continue to escalate, and Patrick Mahomes once again should be applauded. Let's go to Alex Curry with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, let's dive deeper into Joe Burrow

and the Bengals situation here and everyone they got to pay. Because yesterday we discussed the Bengals president, Mike Brown's comments regarding keeping a team's core group in place, and Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, and T. Higgins, are among the big names coming. to the end of their contracts. And although Burrow has taken a vow of silence relating to his contract

negotiations, he had this to say about keeping everybody else in the full. You have guys around you that have helped you have the success that you've had. Our front office has done a great job of that for the last couple of years of putting us in the best position to succeed the way that we have. We'll see where it goes, but I'm confident we will be able to keep everybody. Now in just his three seasons in the NFL, obviously year one, he had that terrible ACL. Obviously year one, he had that terrible ACL injury, but year two, made it to the Super Bowl, year three, lost to Kansas City in the AFC championship game, and these other guys, Jamar Chase and T. Higgins, have been big pieces to his success, as he's mentioned, as we've seen. If you want to continue

to be put in a position of making it deep into the postseason, last two years, Super Bowl and championship game. You got to keep these weapons around you if you want to keep up and be at the level that Kansas City is at, right? But also curious here, like, knowing that he wants

to keep these guys, we were just talking about it. Do you go for your money, or do you go for a little less money? Does this mean Borough is willing to maybe take a little less in order to keep Higgins and Chase? Now, we just saw, you just talked about it, Justin Herbert's, five,

year 262.5 million dollar contract setting the record for quarterback. We saw Lamar get 260, Hertz get 255. And with Hertz being at the top without a playoff win, Joe Burrow is way more established. And you would think should get, as he should, as much as they're willing to pay him and as much as they can afford to give him. He has the track record. He has the experience. but how important is it to make sure that you pay him, but you're also able to pay the weapons and help get him there? Yeah, well, we just saw them ask Mixen to take a pay cut. Reports are $5 million pay cut.

Even Tyler Boyd, their slot guys, really good, durable. His catches have kind of gone down since he had 90 in 2019. He probably will be a cap casualty, right? And they'll have to bring in a cheap slot receiver. My guess would be Chase gets a massive deal, and Higgins probably gets the tag. Higgins is not going to love that, but, you know, I mean. But do you want to stay and do you want to be on a team that is competing for a Super Bowl each year?

Because you've shown that you have what it takes. You have the quarterback that has what it takes to get you there, and this is where that kind of that fork in the road happens. Do you want to stay with a team? Are you willing to, you know, swallow, it's not swallowing pride, but it's more of maybe not getting the max deal that you want to be on a team that's competing for a Super Bowl each year. My guess is a lot of people listening are like,

oh, just take a little more and stay with a winner. But you need to remember, like, the window these guys have. It's not like your regular job when you're in accounting or whatever doing TPS reports. That's not the same. Especially in that Super Bowl window. So T. Higgins might say, you know what, we had a good run. But, you know, the Raiders end up trading Devante Adams. And two years from now, the Raiders come to me and say,

T. Higgins, we want you to be our number one receiver. we're going to back up the brink's truck for you. Like, T. Higgins is probably going to take that, you know? Now, maybe they have Caleb Williams, a quarterback with the Raiders. Who knows? But I'm just saying, like, somebody might try to make T. Higgins the number one. He looked awesome. I think in the Super Bowl, didn't he look really good against Rans?

He's got playoff numbers. He's a stud. I mean, again, you can't blame a player. Do you want Max money or do you want the Rings? Yeah, don't hate the player. What do you want your legacy to be? Is it the Rings or is it having that generational wealth money? How you imagine.

Yep. All right, well, let's move on to Josh Jacobs is one of the many running backs who are unhappy with how their position is being viewed in the market, Jacobs, is in the early stages of his holdout and will not report to training camp after not receiving a long-term extension in the offseason. And head coach Josh McDaniels respects his decision and had this to say. Look, I respect every player's right to try to do what's best for them. That's why, you know, the league is what it is in terms of value and contracts. and, you know, those things are personal. We all have to go through them. I've said it, you know, multiple times this spring.

I respect him tremendously. Have a great deal of respect for him as a player, as a person, what he did for our team last year. And, you know, I'll look forward to seeing him, you know, whenever he is here. And I respect that process, too. You know, it's his decision to make. And, you know, I know they all have to do what they think is best for them.

Now there's a possibility that the Raiders are going to be in the market to draft one of the young top quarterbacks in the draft next year. Now obviously they have Jimmy G. right now. He's healthy. He cleared, which we weren't sure with his foot. But if you don't have a Josh Jacobs there with you, I don't know. I just have this gut feeling that I don't want to say that they're a tank team. but they could be in that place to get the first round pick and to get Caleb Williams, the number one quarterback that everyone's eye in to get in the draft next season. But the other side is,

if you are going to do that, why not pay your offensive weapons now while you can and get him some... This is a little bleak, Alex. So I'm looking at Jacobs' numbers from last year. He played in every game. He had 340. carries. Apparently

370 is the line of demarcation. Do not give over 370 because every year, or anyone who carries 370 times the next year they have an injury. It's just too much of a workload. So 340s pushing it. Yeah. 1600 yards, 12 touchdowns in a contract year. Did everything he was supposed to do. Showed out for this garbage team.

And now they're like, no contract. I mean, he should. He deserves it. He should get the contract. He's only 25. You have to think, are they are they doing it because they might be going for that number one draft pick? Oh, I don't know. I don't know.

I mean, Devante Adams' Jacobs bears watching for this team. We'll see. Jimmy G. is healthy, but that offensive line is atrocious. Like, to run that well behind such a bad offensive line, I was impressed. Yeah. All right, well, let's switch gears to the NBA where Anthony Edwards is hoping to lead the T-WOLs back

to the playoffs next season after getting eliminated in the first round by the eventual champion nuggets, but reaching the playoffs isn't his only goal, saying he's itching for a playoff showdown against Draymond Green and the Warriors. Take a listen. Definitely going back to the playoffs and going further in the playoffs

to go versus I want to play the Warriors. I want to get to the Warriors. Wherever they are, I want to get to them. I got you. Why the Warriors so much? I mean, because Draymond talk so much trash, that's pretty much the only reason. Spicy. And now the Warriors have Chris Paul

who also talks a lot of trash, so they're going to be a mouthy team. But, I mean, this is the mentality you need to have. Like, if you want to be the best, you've got to beat the best. Draymond can talk all the trash he wants. He's got the rings and the record and the career to back it up. Yeah. He's got everything.

I remember when he was coming out in the draft and some people were like kind of down on him and work ethic and all this stuff. On Edwards? No, dude. Yeah, Edwards. I'm like, I need this guy. He's already the leader of that team. It's not Carl Anthony Towns.

It's Edwards. It's his team. That should be clear to anybody who watches or follows Timberl's basketball. He's only played three seasons. He's averaged 24 points a game. He turns 22 here in like 10 days. He's young. He's very young.

And he wants all the smoke from the Warriors, the dynasty. That's the mentality you need. Give me all your Anthony Edwards stuff. I'm buying it. We'll see what happens with Gobert, but I like Edwards a lot. This is a guy like easy to root for. I mean, he's built like a tank. Yep.

He's got the dog mentality. Yeah, he definitely wants everyone. He take him on. Not afraid of anything. I like Anthony Edwards a lot. Alex with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Herd Lie News. Coming up, should Justin Herbert be the highest paid quarterback in the NFL, not Patrick Mahomes? And why I'm buying Justin Fields and the Bears. That's coming up next here on 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.

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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 I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

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Coverage begins tonight at 7 Eastern with kickoff at 9 p.m. Eastern on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Alex, you know I'm a soccer guy. It's the summer of soccer right now. I've been trying to crowbar a soccer topic into the show for a couple days. staff giving me push back. Just give me a minute. But I got to address this breaking news. Passes for breaking news in July.

Okay. So Jalen Hertz met with the media today and said he turned down the opportunity to appear on the Netflix quarterback document series, a quarterback. He turned him down last year. And they came back to him and said, hey, bro, you want to do it this year? And he's like, no. And I got to say this about Jalen Hertz. I love this guy. You guys know I'm all in on Aaron Rogers.

hey, he's the quarterback of my favorite team, the Jets. But Hertz, this is the same... Listen, man, if you can overcome adversity and come out great on the other side of it, even better, I mean, that's just awesome. You go back to Alabama with Hertz, where he was the dude, I think he had a record of like 26 and 1, something insane, and then he gets essentially benched at half.

Not essentially. He got benched. And in the middle of the national championship game for Tua. And Tua, of course, comes in, unbelievable a moment there for the tide. And it's like, man, well, Jalen Hertz was good, but two is the guy now. And Jalen Hertz has to transfer. I'm like, that could do a lot of damage. I don't want, I'm not bagging on the guy, but like Spencer Rattler at Oklahoma was like

the highly touted, Heisman favorite, struggling all of a sudden, bench for Caleb Williams. He transfers to South Carolina. We don't know what Spencer Rattler's future holds. How you bounce back from adversity says, much and Hertz goes to Oklahoma, becomes like, you know, a good quarterback. He could do more than win at Alabama. And he's drafted by the Eagles. And I will never forget, I delete my old tweets so I don't say stuff like, you know, 10 years ago that gets me fired now. But I'll never forget at the time. I was like, ooh, I like that pick. Jalen Hertz. I wasn't all in on Carson

Wentz. But of course, the Eagles fanboys were like, Carson Wentz is the man. He was nearly the MVP. Carson Wentz was never that dude. He's a guy. He's a guy. guy who cannot handle adversity. Hurtz definitely could. So Hurtz goes in there instantly like he's a grinder, he works his butt off, first in, last out, just the mentality of I'm going to outwork you. I absolutely love everything about Hurtz. And again, you know, I think it's second year in the league. He's in the playoffs against Tampa. And I remember the game because I bet them. And Hurtz just looks like a deer caught in headlights. He's just frozen. And Tampa's just annihilating and they might have had like 17 sacks on the game.

And it was just a brutal performance. And I remember in the third quarter, I'm like, all right, we got to get Gardner Minshue out there. Let's go. Need a passer. Hertz ain't that guy. You're not that guy, pal. That's what I thought. I thought Hurt just wasn't that dude.

Well, what did they do? They go out and get him, AJ Brown. And Jalen Hertz responds by becoming basically the MVP of the NFC. Should have been MVP of the league. Goes to the Super Bowl. Was the best player on the field in the Super Bowl. No disrespect to Mahomes or Kelsey. I mean, Hertz was unbelievable.

And now here he is getting asked to do a docu series. Like, I got stuff to accomplish. I'm good. Thanks for your offer. I just love so much about Jalen Hertz. I just had to get that out there. And now that we've had two guys rejected, you've got to start to wonder, like, how many other guys are going to say no?

Not that many quarterbacks in the league. There are only 32 teams. It's like, okay, we had three last year. We can't run back any of those guys. If you're asking me for a bet on who is one of the guys, I would predict Jared Gough. will be my prediction for one of the three quarterbacks on the Netflix docu series for season two. All right, I want to pivot to soccer for a moment.

I know the cowherd audience loves soccer. This isn't really a soccer topic. It's a soccer topic, but really an NBA topic. Because I'm sure you guys saw the news this week. The Saudi Soccer League, which, according to the New York Times, is like the 59th rated soccer league in the world, has made a billion dollar offer to Killian Mbapé, the best player, not named Leon M.S.E., who's playing soccer currently. They're trying to pry him away. They offered him a one-year, $750 million contract. That's correct. One year, $750 million. The transfer fees, it looks like they were $332 million, which is where

they come up with the $1 billion figure. So as soon as this became public, LeBron James jumped on social medium was like, hey, Saudi Basketball League, you want me? I'll come over for a quarter of a, three quarters of a billion dollars. And Janus put a video out there saying, hey, I look like Mbapay, do you guys want me? And everybody's laughing, ha, ha, ha, shoddy basketball. I mean, come on, who's going to watch that? And I'm going to just say, just take a deep breath, step back. It may not be as much of a joke as you guys think. I like to think of myself as a disruptor back in my prime. I still think I'm in my prime, but nevertheless. I started a website and we were ruffling feathers in media. A lot of the media didn't like us. Others did. We were a

disruptor helping newspapers kind of slide down. Social media accelerated that greatly. The Saudi money is disrupting sports globally and it's significantly. Colin has gone at length talking about the golf situation. You could say the Saudis. Oh, Owing the PGA tour, like, you saw what happened. They went and basically money whipped a bunch of dudes, said, hey, come on over. We'll pay you $500 million. Who's turning that down? Who's saying no?

A lot of golfers said yes. Roy McElroy, I believe, was the big one who said no, and I think he was regretting it a lot. Some others said no, and that's fine, I get it. But now the Saudi and the PGA tour have merged. So they've disrupted golf. That's a fact. Saudis are now disrupting soccer. They go after Cristiano Ronaldo.

They get him. They just sign Kareemezima. Anybody who knows anything about soccer knows Benzima is a beast. And they just grabbed him. They went after Lionel Messi. Now, Messi is interesting because he said no to the billion dollar offer. Now, he's a little older, has a family, wife and kids. They love Miami.

And he was able to get into MLS, some ownership, some Apple. He's got a lot going on. And I applaud the Messi move. But Mbapé is going to be an interesting test case. He's, I think, 24 years old. You think a 24-year-old is going to say no to $750 million for one year? I saw the number that he was making at PSG was 36 mil. Who's going to say no to $750 million?

So he's going to go over there for one year. And we can officially say soccer's been disrupted greatly by the Saudi money. So spin this forward, folks. NBA is supposed to have two expansion teams in the coming years. Adam Silver is all but confirmed it. It's going to be Vegas and Seattle in all likelihood. What happens when the Saudis say, hey, what's a bidding like on the Vegas franchise? We'll just double it.

Somebody bid $6 billion. We'll just double it. There's $12 billion. We want it. What's going to happen when they get in the league and, you know, salary cap? What about a salary cap? We don't care paying the luxury tax. It doesn't matter.

Sons have four stars. okay, that's nice. We can go five. Like, they're just going to flaunt the rules. They have shown, it does not apply to them. They're just going to toss money around and win. I don't think it happens in the NFL, but I think if I'm an NBA owner and I'm Adam Sover, I've got to wonder really what's going to happen?

What is the future of the NBA if the Saudis come in and try to come in heavily with the money? Fascinating topic. Coming up next, Joe Hayden in studio, hour number three. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comments. 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, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, 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 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. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics

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