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

Episode Date: April 11, 2023

Nick Wright from First Things First joins the show explain what LeBron James has to gain from winning another NBA championship Looking at how teams test players in the NFL draft  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Suns, Clippers around the corner. It's the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. Very exciting time. Next, you know, we got playoffs until June. And we got the NFL draft coming up. So big stories. The Masters, the TV ratings for the Masters were up 18% or something like that year to year. and it was the highest-rated golf tournament in five years. Even the Masters, when are the big ratings? Jack Nicholas at his prime, Tiger in his prime, this weekend, the Live Golfers, Brooks Kevka, Phil Mickelson made a run. Nobody's watching it for John Rom.

He's a slow player. He's not a big personality. Once again, you don't have to love the reasons why guys joined Live Golf. Like, you don't have to like where they took the money from. But we all watch golf. The ratings always prove it. based on golfers, not the course, not the history. You go look at the Masters, the ratings have fluctuated based on who's playing Sunday

with an hour and a half to go. If it's Tiger, if it's Mickelson, if it's a big hitter, one year of Mike Weir, Michael Weir, I think Canadian golfer, I could be wrong on this, like one, and the ratings were down. It wasn't, wasn't long off the T, wasn't a big name. The Masters will give you a decent rating. But the star of the show, once again, NBA playoffs, NFL, we watch for players, not for grass or the flowers or the course's history. And all these villains, villains work in sports, you can consider Phil Mickelson a villain.

I think if somebody offers you 200 million, it's easy if you've never been offered 200 million to say, I wouldn't take it. You know, again, if somebody offered me 200 million, I'd probably take it. That changes everything. know you were a big golf guy. I got to say, you know, I was in Hawaii and Easter Sunday. I didn't watch the swing of the Masters. Okay. I watched the entire. I apologize for not being like a massive golf fan. I'm sure it was a fun event and congrats to Ron. It wouldn't have been a fun event, but Phil Mickelson and Brooks Kepka made it a fun event. Jordan Speeth is fun. He's a great golfer. He's going to go in and win a Masters. He's a very good golfer. John Rom,

a little sleepy, just a great golfer. Not all golfers are fascinating. Tiger was fascinating. Jack Nicholas was. Greg Norman was. Phil. Mickleson is, Brooks Kepka is. You know, it's like basketball. There are some really good players, and then there are guys that you really want to watch. Joel M.B. keeps you glued to a television set. Trey Young keeps you glued to a

television. Kevin Durant, keeps me glued. Steph Curry. And so, you know, everybody in golf is like, that's about the tradition. No, it's not. It's about the golfer. And that's why these guys, like Kepka left, and Patrick Reed left, and Phil Mickelson left. They said, we don't want to do the grind.

We deserve a bigger share of the profits. People are watching these tournaments for us. And by the way, they're more arrested. Phil Mickelson never looked better in his life. God, he was in the best shape of his life. He played great. That's the best round ever for an old guy. All right. So here's my five NBA predictions. Going into the playing games tonight. My five, and these are way out in the limb. Number one, the Sixers will not win a second playoff series. Why do I believe that? Because they've yet win one with Joel M.B. I don't trust this team situationally. They have no bench scoring. So if like an M.B. got in foul trouble, they just, they don't score off the bench at all.

They're a bad matchup. The Celtics beat them three out of four. And the only game they beat the Celtics, Robert Williams and Jalen Brown did not play. So I think the Sixers are fun, more built for the regular season than situational postseason basketball. They will not win a second series. My second big take is health, not the opponent, will dictate the Lakers success. LeBron and A.D. played just 36 games together. Playoff basketball is more physically demanding and more physical. That concerns me. 80s only played one back-to-back all season. LeBron's playing great basketball, but the last time A.D. played it back-to-back, I thought it was like November or something. So health will unravel the Lakers, not the opposition.

Number three is, I think the suns are going to roll the clippers. They're not only 8-0 with Kevin Durant, but their net rating for you basketball analytic mavens is 11.3. It's one of the highest net ratings in the history of the league. KDs won 25 of his last 27 games, and that counts Brooklyn, right? So the guy's a winner. Paul George is going to miss the start of the series. He hasn't played since about three weeks.

So if he does come back, you've got to build up some chemistry. I think Phoenix is going to win this. in four or five games. Number four is the Warriors win a physical series against the Kings, and we're going to be talking a lot about officiating. Because between Draymond Green and Gary Payton, it's going to be in Looney, they're going to bang on the Kings. The Kings don't like physicality. They don't play defense. This is going to be Sacramento probably wins the opener, and then Steve Kerr makes it much more about physicality, wearing on him, pushing them, and they're going to get the Dynasty whistle, they're going to get the veteran old guy whistle.

will be a tough series. Warriors in six, they lose the opener, but we'll be talking about officiating when the series is over. And finally, old teams will flourish. The oldest team in the NBA is Milwaukee. They're going to win the whole thing. The second oldest team in the West is the Sons. They're going to win the West. The Celtics are also a veteran team. So are the heat. Look for the heat to surprise people. So in the end of these young teams that we like, and I like, like Memphis and Cleveland and T-wolves will lose tonight. And the Knicks. Old guys will flourish.

There's my five NBA prediction. All right, Nick Wright joins us. Call his first things first. Any of those five predictions you do not like that you dismiss that you eye roll? Well, listen, I think you're underselling Philly. I would like to say, Colin, and I can only do this because you. You and I have such a deep, long-standing relationship. You're not exactly going out on a bunch of limbs here, buddy.

You have the Sixers losing to the higher-seated Celtics. You're saying the Lakers, health could be a concern. You're picking the Sons who are minus 500 to beat the Clippers. You like the Warriors over the Kings. I disagree with you, but that's chalk as well. And wait, you like the old teams, meaning the favorites. The Sons, the Bucks, the Bucs, the... The Lakers, the Warriors, wow.

I mean, talk about, old takes exposed is just licking their chops at these chalky predictions. Now, I will actually go out on some limbs here. Okay. So let me talk about the Sixers and the Warriors, because the rest of it I mostly agree with you. So you're right. The Sixers have never made a conference finals with Embedde. They actually have only made one conference finals since Dr. J. Believe it or not, that Iverson year, when they actually made all the way to the finals.

So the best player in NBA history to not win a ring is a debate, something we talk about. We used to talk about the best player to never make a finals. Was that Chris Paul? But then he made one. Joelle Embed, right now, is the best player ever to not make a conference finals. Dominique Wilkins, Bernard King, are probably the other contenders. I just kind of feel like he's due. I also think that Boston record is a little misleading

because Philly lost to Milwaukee and Boston in games one and two of the season. And then you're right, they did lose the next two to Boston, one of which came on a Jason Tatum buzzer-beater. That was the game where Embed then hit the 70-footer that got waved off that would have tied it. I think Joelle Embedd is going to be a man on a mission. I also think this, because you mentioned the heat, I think it's very important, oddly enough, for Philly

that Miami win tonight. Why? Because I think Miami could beat Boston up in the first round. I don't think they could beat Boston, but I think they could put some wear and tear on them that Philly's not going to have to deal with in Brooklyn and make it an easier series. So that's in the east where I disagree.

And in the West, somebody has to put some responsibility, on the king's name. The number one offense in NBA history. Look it up. The most efficient offense in NBA history. Two all-MBA level guys

in Fox and Sabonis, home court advantage against a Warriors team that finished the year with one road victory against a winning team. One all season was against the Cavs months ago.

So, well, I guess they also beat the Kings on the road when the Kings were resting everyone in game 81, but real victory. So I like the King's chances here. I don't think the Warriors are going to be able to flip the switch. And I do think the emotional toll of this decade and the title last year and the punch and everything. And lastly, I think there is a lot of people are relying a lot on Andrew Wiggins to come in and change the defensive dynamic.

And he has not played in two months. That would concern me. So those are the kind of more out-on-a-limb predictions that I will give, as opposed to Colin, who's got his chalkboard out for this. No, I think the Sons are going to win the West. And I do believe there are too many chemistry issues with the Warriors. Now you're going to put Gary Payton, who's very vital defensively. He's going to have to play a lot.

So that means you take minutes from Jordan Poole. That won't play well. Cuminga, nice knowing you. You can't play. Wiggins is in. I think chemistry has been an issue with the Warriors. year and I think they're going to ask some of their young guys to take a seat. I don't think it'll play well in the room.

I think it's going to be a hard. I think you're right. So I think it's going to be, I don't think this is the year. Also, I think when you go, it's hard to win back to back because you add 25, 30 playoff games or 25 playoff games. That's right. For an old team, they're worn down. They were a bad defensive team.

So I will say this, though, the Celtics are fascinating to me because what they basically did this year is they said, listen, we're just not going to. to play Robert Williams, right? Because we need him against them, Bid and Yon. We're not going to play him. So they're very good, despite not really playing one of the more vital pieces. And so my takeaway is now they're going to play Robert Williams. But that means they need to get to the finals or they're going to have to make a, I think the pressure is completely, it's not on it's a little bit on Embed it's not on Milwaukee

I think of all the playoffs Boston has to get to the finals and my takeaway is if they don't you've never been a fan of the Celtics if they don't what do you do to change it because their core is really good

so the core is really good I think to me my biggest concern if I were a Celtic fan and thank God I wasn't born into that life I understand they won a lot of titles in the 80s and before but give me a break. One title since the fall of the Berlin Wall, title town. Come on, Boston, do better.

Now, but to the point, the big concern to me is the unknown at coach in Joe Missoula. Ime Udoka as a coach was outstanding. But going into the playoffs last year, that was a question. How is he going to do in his first postseason? He did excellent. We don't know how Joe Missoula is going to do. So that concerns me.

other concerning thing, if I'm Boston, about the pressure on this year is they seem to have shopped Jalen Brown so much that he's sick of it. Now, he might make all NBA and therefore stay, they can pay him more. I don't know. But the interview he gave to the New York Times, the interview he gave to the ringer, made it seem like he's not in love with living in Boston, and he's not in love with the fact that in three consecutive off-seasons, they have made it clear. that Jason Tatum is untouchable and Jalen Brown is very touchable and it bothered him.

And so for those reasons, I think it is critical that they have another deep playoff run. I do think the most pressure, however, in the East is on Philly because they've never been to a conference finals, let alone a finals. And there are those odd murmurs that James Harden might leave and go back to Houston. Now, I don't totally understand that, but that seems to be out in the ethos, if you will, or in the ecosystem, I should say. And if they flame out in the postseason, it could be a tough off season for Philadelphia. And I'm sure they would try to trade for Dame and remake the team that way.

But I think the most pressures on Philly, I think the most interesting team is Boston because of the looming Jalen Brown, does he want to be their question. So we got into this yesterday. And it was Jay Mack and I talked about this, is that there are players that their legacy is formed, and it doesn't matter if they win. And one of them is Kevin Durant. And I think Kevin Durant,

takeout centers is one of the 12 best players I've seen. I think he's a significantly better version than a great player, Dirk Novitsky. It's formed. Yeah. I do not believe, and my takeaway is, if Durant won a title with Phoenix, and I think they certainly can probably won't but certainly can.

I think they'll win the West. Who does he jump? Who does he leap? And yesterday, J-Mack said, Kobe. I said, no, it's not going to be Kobe. He's not there yet with Kobe. So I'll ask you, I do think, like, take Patrick Mahomes. If he won the next three Super Bowls, then he probably, we put him over Brady, right?

Right, right. So he's not fully formed. He's a Hall of Famer. He's not fully formed. I feel like Durant, I would just say plug and play, best player on one of the great teams, a little brittle,

and a bit of a wander. Nothing's going to change with a title. If he wins, where would he leap? Who would he go over? All right, so let's just, I don't have it in front of me, but luckily I haven't memorized.

Let's just do the list real quick. Okay, okay. All right. All right. So we have LeBron one, Kareem, 2, Jordan 3. Yeah, I said it. I believe it.

Look up the numbers. Number four is Magic Johnson. Number five, Bill Russell. Number six, Will. He's not leap in any of them. Number seven, Tim Duncan. He's not yet. Bill Russell, 11 rings, J-MAC, 21-0 in elimination games.

Greatest defensive player ever. Put some respect on the 1960s. It was an important time in the NBA. I'm going to keep going. We're doing all of NBA history. We're just doing the last 25 years. I'm giving you the list. Number, you know what?

We'll just do the last 50 years. I'll start over from Kareem to, now. It'll make it easier. Okay. You got LeBron 1, Kareem 2, Jordan 3, Magic 4, not leaping them. Yeah. Duncan 5, Kobe 6. I don't think he's leaping them. Now it gets interesting. Steph Curry. Bird set, hold on in my list, not yours. Bird 7, Akeem 8, Shaq 9, Steph 10, Dr. J 11, Moses 12, Durant 13. That's how I would have it. Okay. With the title, Colin. Does he leap Dr. Jay?

Go ahead. Does he leap Dr. Jay? Yes. Okay. Yes. That's the guy. Okay. So that's the guy.

And he may be already as past Moses, some would argue. That's very, very close. Yeah. But he's behind Dr. Jay, in my opinion. He leaps, so he leaps, he leaps Dr. Jay with a title. The he and Steph conversation becomes interesting again. And then the question is, are both of them eventually going to supplant Shaq and to Keem and next up would be Byrd.

If we just did forwards, what does Kevin Durant need to do to pass Larry Bird? Because Byrd also, by the way, his overall counting stats are not that great because he didn't play that long. Durant's played a very long time, but he's dealt with a lot of injuries the last half decade. I think Durant's ceiling is one day supplanting Byrd, but he probably needs not just another title, but another couple great healthy seasons to do it. I don't know if he's getting there.

And so that's how I would break it down. Okay. By the way, so the Lakers start tonight. They'll beat the T-Wolves, though I would take the points. It'll be six, seven points. And my guess, yeah, I know a lot of people think they're going to now, but the market's going crazy on the Lakers. The line goes up.

That feels like too many casuals jumping in. I'm going to go with the points with Atlanta. Oh, casuals. Okay. Casuals. You're throwing out casuals. Well, here's some non-casual info for you. In the 12 all-time playoff games, favorites are 11 and 1 straight up, 8 and 4 against the spread.

Also, you guys can fact-check me on this, but LeBron James, greatest play-in player ever, maybe has a triple double, hit a game winner over Steph Curry in the play-in with one eye, if you remember that glorious moment a couple years ago. That was on one leg with one eye hit a game winner. And Minnesota right now is without their defensive anchor, who I don't think really helps them that much, but he does give LeBron a bit of trouble. Their best perimeter defender and their backup center. So Carl Anthony Towns, who if you remember last year's play-in, fouled out of the play-in, and last year's playoffs had five thousand, three of the six games, I would imagine will instantly be in foul trouble.

I think the Timberwolves are in disarray. I do like the Lakers laying even the eight points you'd have to lay. I'd be shocked if they lose. But go ahead. I didn't let you ask your question, but I just wanted to give that information. So again, let's go back to the fully formed reputation. And so most players' legacies aren't fully formed if they're in their 20s. Once you get your 30s, yes.

I don't think L.A., once LeBron won in the bubble, this was his mogul stage. He wanted to double his net worth he did. He got, but none of this matters to LeBron. I mean, give me a break. Like Michael Jordan's last couple years in Washington were a tire fire. Nobody holds it against him. Nobody cares. It's 20 years in Washington's been pretty bad.

I mean, owner is still in the league. Michael Jordan's still writing that legacy, the worst owner ever. But I think what you're calling, LeBron's legacy can't go backwards, but it certainly can take a big leap forward. How? That's inarguable. They win the title. He wins the title.

in year 20 as the best player, the second best player? LeBron is going to make an all-MBA team this year, Colin. That will be his 19th. Bird and Magic have 20 combined. Jordan had 11 total. He's about to have 19. Prior to this year, the most points per game in a year 20 season was 17 by Kobe when he shot 35%.

LeBron said 29 on 50%. Game 82. He had another 35-point game. That puts all of NBA history in year 20. 35-point games. LeBron 14. Rest of the league combined. Three.

If they win the title, are you kidding me what it means for his legacy? I mean, you might say, well, he's already the greatest player ever. Well, some people disagree with that. And he needs to create a legacy that in 60 years from now, when people bring him up and they're doing lists, The J-MAC of six years from now doesn't scoff disrespecting Bill Russell like that. How dare you, J-Mack?

When you're going to talk boxing? Can I bring up Muhammad Ali? That was the same era. It's outrageous. Well, yeah, we're going to disagree. I think I look at LeBron James, and my takeaway is LeBron James does more things well than any player in the history of the sport, and it's not particularly close. Greatest is very subjective, eras, times, styles, rules, but he does more things.

things well. Mahomes does more things well than Brady. That is inarguable. Inarguable. Now, production, Tom's the greatest. But you can't argue. Mahomes can do anything. Arm angles. Run deep. Underneath. There's nothing close. And LeBron, it's not close. He's a better, he's a stronger player than Michael. He's a better distributor. Bigger, stronger, faster. Everything. Bigger, stronger, faster, more durable, more versatile. Everything. Did it with all different coaches, did it with all different teammates, and it with all different styles of play. You are correct, Colin.

However, there are folks that are obsessed with counting these rings. And if LeBron gets one more, I think it certainly helps the case. I do believe that. And by the way, I think they're going to do it. The Lakers have been the best team in the West

since the All-Star break and I think the Eastern Conference playoffs, everyone's going to beat each other up. I really like this Lakers team. I like what they're doing, and I think their position really, really well. You have a little bit of a Bitcoin bro thing with LeBron where it doesn't matter how often it plunges. You still at your core believe Bitcoin in 20 years. It doesn't just to the floor. Your belief in them is so strong in LeBron that if LeBron rolls an ankle tonight, you will somehow,

and I say this, there's part of you that I love that your belief system, You're so deeply, you don't have any inauthentic. Well, you know, Colin, there are certain things that if just, you know, you've only been right about for the entirety of your professional career, why stop now? I'm old enough to remember everyone abandoning LeBron James after he had a mediocre series against the Dallas Mavericks. Some of us said, eh, I think he's going to rebound.

And then he made seven consecutive NBA finals. I remember coming on your show in Twitter. 2016, when I had a shaved head and not even a full-grown beard. And you were like, listen, there's no shame in LeBron losing to the Warriors. Steff's changed the game. This is the greatest team ever. And I sat on that couch and I said, if anyone can come back from 3-1 down, I think it's that guy. And then he did.

And so, you know what? He's going to the Lakers because he wants to make movies. And then by year two, he's hoisting the trophy with zero home games. Only guy ever to do that in the past, present or future. So yeah, I'll keep making this same bet. It's worked out more often than it hasn't. Nick Wright, first things first, the relentless loyalty to his belief system, which I love so much. It's good seeing you.

Take integrity, Colin. You can learn something for me. I don't say that often. Talk to you later. Take integrity. I love that term. That's a hoodie. I got to put that on a hoodie.

Take integrity. No, I say this about the Bitcoin bros. I always thought cryptocurrency at some time in my life, could the dollar be replaced? Yeah, maybe. But there's no centralized bank that would embrace Bitcoin, unregulated security. I'm going to say no to it. But the people that believe in it are, you can't move them off it. It doesn't mean they could plunge, they could move back up, it could plunge, they could lose all their money again.

Take integrity. People that absolutely believe something to be true. And Nick on the LeBron stuff has mostly been right. Hey, did you hear his Julius Irving Kevin Durant take? No. Listen, I've heard some Nick. I haven't heard all. That's a very good argument.

That's one of the worst arguments I've heard in the history of basketball. I literally just looked up. Kevin Durant hasn't beat in every single department. Finals MVP's, first team all NBA, play all-star games, if that's worth anything. Scoring leader, Dr. Jay has nothing on Kevin Durant. Other than iconic dunk over Michael Cooper in one game. Come on. Like, that is insanity.

Well, no, Dr. Jay was, you've got to be realistic. In the pro basketball Hall of Fame. Certainly. It's not like the NFL Hall of Fame. They count everything. Officials are in it. Dr. Jay was the best player in a very good ABA. Oh, how good was the ABA?

I mean, I wasn't born yet, but I'm sure it wasn't full with plumbers and off-duty firefighters. No. Playing against Dr. Jay and getting dunked on. Guys came from the ABA, Dan Issel, Dr. Jay. A handful of really good guys. led the NBA, led NBA teams for a year. ABA had ballers. Of course.

There's a great handful. The G League has a couple really good players right now. No, no. The G League doesn't have a Dr. J or a Danesle or an artist Gilmore. Some guy, a kid Lofton just had 42 points in game seven or a game 82 of the season. I'm sure he's the next artist Gilmore. No, the ABA.

So Dr. J was the best player. He was an awesome transcendent player. He's not better than Kevin Duran in the history. He was the Michael Jordan of the ABC. A dunking machine. Well, and a dominating player. And then, so he gave up years in that league. Then he was, like, Warren Moon, was by far and away the greatest CFL player ever.

He gave up, like, how many years, six years, came to the NFL. Like, if you added Warren Moon's CFL stats, like some of them to the NFL, I think he's already a Hall of Famer. So Dr. Jay, you've got to be fair about it. Awesome. Awesome player. Top 20 all time. But not better than Kevin Durant. By the way, is the NBA, the league where they have?

have the images of guys smoking cigarettes at half time? No. With the whiskey on the... That's not the same. I wasn't sure if it was ABA or 70s. They have a tri-colored basketball with some of the most colorful players in league history. I'm sure it was an awesome league. Kevin Durant would have scored 90 points a game in the ABA in the late 60s 70s.

Come on. Dr. Jay on no planet is better than Kevin Durant. Well... Thank you for agreeing with me. No, I think it's very, very close. I do. Now, again, I just saw some. somebody in a grocery store yesterday, a professional gambler who's from Philly.

And I said, I fell in love with the NBA and Dr. Jay was the first iconic star. First shoe deal that I remember, it was Converse and his game and his style. So I think, I think Dr. Jay and Durant are similar. Oh, I think they're very, now, now, it's very easy if you didn't grow up with Dr. Jay to not recognize his brilliance and his, he empowered. Listen, Philadelphia doesn't win a lot of NBA championships. he was working with a lot of Steve Mix and I'm trying to think of that team

George McGinnis Steve Mix Mo Chiques on that team The Philadelphia had Billy Cunningham was the coat There was a Andrew Tony Mo I forget who all played together Steve Mix There was

They had a defensive forward Colwell Jones Bobby Jones Yeah Caldwell Jones It was a lot of different play I grew up sixers were great When I was a kid in the 70s Irving was incredible

And he was the best player is a better basketball player. And that's not slander of Dr. Jay. Because I know all these 50 and over guys are going to come at me on social media now. Why do you hate Dr. Day? No, no, but you are ripping the ABA. And I make fun of like second tier leagues. The ABA was legit.

Of course it was. I'm sure it was. Multiple guys came out of that league and starred in the NBA. Yeah, that's going to, certainly that's going to happen. Not like good players, great players. They were, it was a wild league. You're not giving props. Folks, beat up.

up on him for that ABA take. Here we go. ABA was good. I'm sure. I mean, I didn't see it on television, but I've watched docs on it. And, I mean, you can go look at the players that came out of that league. They're like dudes everywhere, All-Stars. 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

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And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because. of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your Daring, safe, styler, sporty, the 2023 sedan family checks everything. Check it out, MbUSA.com. Eight new distinctive models, MBUSA.com. J-MAC with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

Big trade in the NFL just went down, Colin. What? The Detroit Lions are dealing Jeff Okuda to the Falcons for a fifth round pick. Okuda was the third overall pick. In 2020 coming out of Ohio State, he had a bad injury. A little bit of a bust. I used to call guys bust, but that's harsh. You know, he had an injury.

All right. He was thrust into a starting role as like an undersized corner, really good college football player. He's going to go to Atlanta. They've got some decent cornerbacks there. We don't know what he's going to be. That changes my mock draft because I had them taking a corner, so I'm going to have to revisit my one-and-only mock draft.

Well, the Lions kind of telegraphed this in the off-season. They went and picked up Canada. Sutton from Pittsburgh. They picked up Mosley, I believe, from the 49ers, and then C.J. Gardner Johnson to be in the slot, who was a free agent with the Eagles, I believe, last year. So they don't. They don't. Do they need another quarterback? No. You would think not. Detroit needs an interior rush. So will Jalen Carter be there with your draft? If Jalen Carter dropped, they will take him. Okay. Well, there's some chatter. And again, it's just chatter, draft season.

Will Anderson of Alabama could be dropping a little bit. What if Will Anderson was, opposite, Aiden Hutchinson. Yeah, but is he going to drop? What do they pick? Eight or seven? I think they're fifth or sixth. No, Seattle's five, so they must be... They're six. Yeah, I could see Will Anderson drop to six. Will Anderson and Aiden Hutchison? That's pretty dang good to chase the quarterbacks.

And what quarterbacks are you chasing? Kirk Cousins, who doesn't move? I've got to tell you something. Detroit in the last two or three years is doing a really bad job of retaining their goofy role. In the history, they've been a goofy, dysfunctional chaotic mess. And I got to be honest with you. I know they didn't make the playoffs, but the last couple of drafts

and the last couple of years, like Detroit knows what they're doing. If Aaron Rogers leads to the Jets and Lamar doesn't come to the NFC, there's a case the Lions might be the third best team in the conference after the Eagles and Ninus? First of all, Jared Goff is somewhere on the top 10, 12 quarterback. Their O-Lines, top five in the league. Sorry, top 10 quarterback where? NFC or league?

League God, you guys Jared Goff top 10 in the NFL? He's been to a Super Bowl. Is that the requirement? Did you see... Did he start it in the Super Bowl? No, I mean, did you see his home splits?

Now, we know what he's not. He's not good in the muddy pocket. He's not going to do off script. With that offensive line, he's not rushed that often. He's got time to throw. Ben Johnson's a great O.C. Jared Goff is...

He was a number one pick. There's something there. You know what he is? everybody loves CJ Stroud. You know, his comp is, his comp is Jared Gop. So if you're selling me on how great C.J. Stroud is, I think Jared Gough is a better version of C.J. Stroud.

I think he throws an even prettier ball. It's amazing. We all love new. So everybody loves C.J. Stroud. Well, Goff's his comp, and I think Gough throws one of the nicest balls in the league when he has time to set and throw. He's Matt Ryan with a better arm,

and that's the knock on Matt Ryan. He doesn't have much. You're not going to get anything off. script with a Matt Reiner of Gop. But if you give Gough time, which with the Lions O'Line they have, his home splits last year were insane. When he was at home with good weather and time to throw, he's one of the best quarterbacks in the league last year.

The problem is they play in a division where you have to go outdoors to Chicago and Green Bay. But not Minnesota. He did do well outdoors this past season. I bet against him a couple times that he delivered. If they play Chicago in September, scratch that off as a cold weather again. Is it 10-11 win team? Yeah, I think they're a 10-win team. team. But it's funny, most of my life, I mean, almost all of it. They've been a circus. They've had

two or three really good drafts in a row. Three of the worst teams in the league over this century. Detroit Lions, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns. I got to tell you something. I got to tell you something. They kind of act like they know what they're doing now. They've hit on some coaches. They've hit on a lot of draft picks. Dan Campbell? I mean, not bad. Does anybody in the league play harder for their coach? Not many. I mean, they play. They play hard. They're flawed, but they play. And they still have, again, their defense is atrocious, so they're a work in progress.

But they have clearly stemmed their secondary issues. That's not even a debate. They upgraded massively in free agency. Now, this next story, I'm surprised you didn't open the show with it. Cliff Kingsbury, your guy is back. And he's at USC, joining Lincoln Riley staff as a senior offensive analyst. Brilliant. Boy, that's quite a fall.

Head coach in the NFL to senior offensive analyst. First of all, he didn't. need the money, and he and Lincoln are guys, they're friends. So here's the thing. How many great college football coaches are there? Great. Seven, eight, nine. There's 130 programs. There's maybe eight great college football coaches. How many great NFL coaches are there? Six, great. Seven, maybe. Okay. Okay. The rest of the league is good coaches. They're just not good head coaches. That's kind of a presidential. There's a lot of good politicians. Well, not really, but very few that can be president. Cliff Kingsbury's a good coach. He's not a good head coach. That's not what he is. He's not

built for that at this point in his life. But is he a good coach? Yeah, if you ask players and not quarterbacks, they're like, yeah, he's fantastic. But this idea that, well, I mean, Lincoln Riley is a great coach, head coach, Davos Sweeney, Nick Sabin, Chris Peterson was at Washington, Jim Harbaugh. Brian Harbaugh. Brian, LSU. Brian Kelly. There's about seven guys. you're like, they win everywhere. Most, but remember, every staff has 14 coaches, 15 coaches. So 1%, no, no, less than 1%,

less than half of 1% of college football coaches are proven to be great head coaches. Doesn't mean you can't coach. There's great coordinators all over sports. So he's a great coach. He's just not really, has not succeeded as a head coach. You know what I love about this?

So he could have basically had this job anywhere. Remember there was a lot of talk to the Patriots, Do the Patriots go get Cliff Kingsbury? Colin, he's going to live in L.A. and he's going to work with, oh, by the way, maybe the best quarterback prospect to come out since Trevor Lawrence. There's a no-lose situation for Cliff Kingbury.

Unless you think the quarterback falls off a cliff at USC. He's probably going to be the number one pick. This is a huge victory for Cliff Kingsbury. That's smart picking your job. That's a really good job by him. He could have tried to salvage some quarterback somewhere. No, thanks. I'll go work with Caleb at USC.

How do Oklahoma do this year without Lincoln? What were they? Seven and six? Seven and six? They were tough, though. I hear Norman, Oklahoma is lovely. Tough to watch. Well, you know what? In the time of year that matters the fall, they're not very good at football anymore.

I'm under what happened. Oh, boy. Making enemies everywhere. All right, we'll wrap up with, there's a handful of wide receiver prospects in this draft. But according to executive director of the senior ball, Jim Nagy, there aren't expected to fly off. the board in the first round? Apparently, numerous teams have told Nagy, only one receiver with the first round grade is Ohio State's Jackson Smith Najigba. Yeah, he's great. So Quentin Johnson

of TCU, the Big Kid, 6'4, no first round grade. Jordan Addison, your guy, USC? Well, I love Jordan Addison. If he was the first player taken in the second round, great route runner, open a lot. I mean, again, really good player, but doesn't have breakaway speed? Is not big. So I like, For instance, Jordan Addison, not breakaway speed. Zay Flowers, tiny. He's tough. TCU receivers, I'm a little, a little dearie on. Josh Downs is a good player, but probably a second round guy.

Hyatt was a stud at Tennessee this year. I mean, I like all these guys, but I think the Ohio State kid is the most talented of all those. So, I did look up the gambling odds. Two and a half is the total number of receivers in the first round. You're going over or under. Under. You have three receivers?

Because two teams, like the chamblinger. Chargers need a tight end, and the Cowboys, there's three teams that want a tight end. So for the teams looking for weapons, a lot of them need, and I think Bejan Robinson is going to get picked in the first round. So for the teams looking to be better offensively, two tight ends minimum are going, one star running back. I think you're going to have two receivers drafted in the first round. I bet the under on that. I'll take the other side. Flowers is really good, but tiny.

We've seen tiny receivers excel. I mean, Devante Smith goes to the Eagles. he was what, like, five to 11s? He's a tiny guy. He's thin. He's thin. He had a billion catches like in his first two years. Like, you need receivers in this league. It's an offensive passing league. Jordan Addison will go first round. Late first.

Whatever. He's going first round. Like, he's good. J-Mac with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lide news. To gain visibility and control over your financials, inventory, e-commerce and more, take advantage of special financing, no payments, six months, no interest six months. NetSuite by Oracle, go to net suite.com slash 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. What do you get when you combine a three-time manager of the year at a three-time national sports writer of the year? It's the Book of Joe podcast. Hey, this is Tom Perducci from Fox Sports, MLB Network and Sports Illustrated. And I'm Joe Madden, and we're going to be around to talk a little bit about managerial decisions, playoff games, and what may have occurred into the dugout, maybe in the 1980s.

I can't wait for this, Joe. We're going to dive into what goes on in the dugout and behind the scenes in Major League Baseball. Cars, whined, whatever else we want to talk about. Listen to the Booker Joe podcast on the Iheart radio app, on 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 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. basketball to college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

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

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. MLB, this weekend, Christian Yellich and the Brewers, Mani Machado and the Padres. It all starts at 4 Eastern on FS1 and the Fox Sports app. Have you heard about this new S2?

This new, the new Wonderlic. It's called the S2. It's a 40-yard dash for your brain. The Wonderlich was always a test. People got kind of sensitive about it. It showed red flags. If somebody scored really low, a bit of a red flag, but it didn't mean you were a great or a bad football player.

I mean, Ryan Fitzpatrick had the highest Wonderlick ever. Is he a great quarterback? They have a new test called the S2 test where basically it's, can you process stuff quickly? Can you figure stuff out quickly? Drew Breeze, by the way, average wonder lick, great S2 score. Patrick Mahomes, through the roof, S2 score, which is, I've said this often about when you watch Mahomes play, I'm not blown away by his size. He's got a good arm.

I think Josh Allen's got a great arm. His ability to see something, deliver the ball to something cognitively. Mahomes is like bizarrely quick upstairs, like bizarrely. So the story is Bryce Young has tested very high for this, the highest in this draft class. Last year, by the way, Brock Purdy, seventh round was the highest testing quarterback S2 score. So pretty functional, get stuff upstairs quickly. The Wonderlich could get, it was a red flag like, ooh, this is a, this is a low score. A little bit of a red flag.

But I always said about the Wonderlick. something, it wasn't everything. The S2, according to the stories today, Bryce Young tests through the roof with the S2, and that's a big deal. It's a 40-yard dash for the brain. Increasingly fewer huddles, get more from the sidelines, have to read the defense. And by the way, Burrow also tests very well on S2. Have you looked into this test at all? It's pretty awesome, Cowherd. I heard about this from Daniel Jeremiah a couple weeks ago. I was texting him about and he's like, so six shapes will pop up on a screen, and you have to quickly identify which one is different. And it's like a good thing to process your brain, just like reading defenses.

So naturally, I asked him, can I give this to my kids to see if they can understand sports? And he's like, go for it. Haven't done that yet. Is it online? It is. Yeah. Websites awesome. Awesome.

Hour three next. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Oden Kirk 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 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 Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the hard way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is a about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing.

How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed Human.