The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 2 - NFL Mock Drafts, Victor Wembanyama becoming the face of the league, Joel Klatt

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

 Thoughts on Victor Wembanyama last night, the Spurs this season, and the possibility of him being the face of the league Colin talks to Joel Klatt about the Big 10, the NFL mock drafts, Miami players being top prospects and more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. I just read a great story. Welcome an hour to Sam Darnold an hour and a half from now. Joel Clatt in a couple minutes. Kenny Albert was the voice of Olympic hockey on NBC. And after they won the gold, he had 438 texts. And the Albert families, I mean, they've got a lot of Steve. Albert and Marve Albert and Kenny Albert and I'm probably missing somebody.

I thought he did a great job. I played tennis with him once. One of the nicest guys out there. Just salt to the earth. Dad's a legend and he's just a great kid. It just kind of gets out of the way and lets, you know, hockey moves so fast. And Kevin Burkhart has this quality. He's great, but gets out of the way. And lets the crowd play into it. The analysts play into it. It's a very collaborative effort. And Kenny did a great job. But that's funny. I've had, like days where I got 28 and I was overwhelmed. He got 438 texts.

Here's another thing. Tomorrow's show is going to freak you out. Because I know the first time I saw what I'm going to let you see tomorrow freak me out. So if you pick one show, and I hope you pick more than one show, but if you pick one show to watch this week, it would be tomorrow's show. And if you do only watch one show this week, then you're not listening now, and you'll be very, very fortunate. Because I'm going to unveil something, been working on this thing for at least nine months. When was I shown? Yeah, it's like nine months.

It is, it's techie. It's futuristic. It is maybe the end of my career. Whatever. That is on tomorrow's show in the second hour. And that's all I'm going to say. Something happened last night. I'll tell you, we were talking about Wemby last hour. And I don't think the NBA needs a face of the league to be popular. I think it's an overused term. I think there's only been five or six in my life. I don't even think Kareem or wilt with a face of the league. I think Magic Johnson was.

I think Michael Jordan was. LeBron, Steph Curry, but a lot of great players. Tim Duncan wasn't. I don't think Kobe was ever the face of the league. I don't even know if Shaq was. Maybe Shaq was for a year or two. But like Wemby last night is a great example of being multifaceted. He last night was three for 12 from the field through three quarters and was plus 11.

I mean, he last night, he is separating from the other. good players, great players in this league like Luca and SGA and Jalen Brunson. Last night, he's separating. Last night he had 17 rebounds, six blocks, four assists, didn't really score until late and dominated the game.

And he was the best prospect since LeBron James when he came out. I mean, all the scouts were saying there's nothing out there quite like him. And what is this year four in the league? And, you know, he came in with like minute restrictions, year three in the league, minute restrictions, which was very smart. Game restrictions.

you know, they want to build up his strength. I'm not going to throw them 82 games. He is, last night, he played a very good Detroit team. Now, Detroit's young, so San Antonio, Detroit's young, and they don't have a lot of scoring threats from the outside, so they have to score at the basket. Well, good luck with Wemby. That's not going to happen. So he just dominates the game last night, and it doesn't, and struggled offensively.

But, I mean, he is really separating from almost every player in the league not named Yokic. and I love SGA and we all know Luke is good and Brunson's good and hard and all these guys they can't dominate a game and not and not have the ball in their hands he is so multifaceted

and just shutting down a really good Detroit team is a team that has blasted a lot of the best teams in the league and here's Wemby after his offensive struggle but a win second half was a pretty satisfying defensively

and yeah they did touch for the night I mean this this is what they do you know if they don't want to you score they're not going to let's

score and this is when this is why I was also talking about progression because everybody was connected tonight everybody got to eat tonight because we were so connected

because we were trying to fight against the wall the whole game yeah it's um Detroit needs another elite score next to Cade Cunningham, and they're really young. They're too young to win a title. They're not deep enough offensively to win a title. They're half-court offense, kind of average. San Antonio's a bad matchup for him, and there's no getting around that. They're not a great

matchup for them. But Wemby's just, it is crazy how he cannot score and totally control the game. Well, college football used to be controlled down south, but I was looking at Daniel Jeremiah's mock draft. In his first 20 picks, he had two SEC players, no bigs, no defensive tackles, no defensive ends, no dominant offensive tackles. He had two perimeter corners. One LSU, who's really good, and one at Tennessee is pretty good. And with that, Joel Clatt is now joining us. And Joel Clat and I, people will say, you guys are very pro big 10. Well, you know what?

I think we're very pro facts. And I'm looking at the mock drafts. Pro facts. It's incredible. First of all, tip of the cap to Miami. Because Mario, Christopal, I have Miami guys all over the first round. There's Utah guys, Kyle Winnihan, in the first round. When you look at this first round, this is Daniel J.

Jeremiah's and we'll have yours as well. But I think we can officially say it. And we cannot say it with Snark. We can just say it factually is three straight natties, favor potentially to win a four. This draft is top 20 players. I mean, look at your, and you're more favorable to the SEC,

but there's something you cannot deny looking at this draft. Miami and the Big Ten simply have more good players. Yeah, I mean, listen, I was pretty favorable to the SEC. I think that there's going to be a couple of guys that get favorable grades in particular from the combine. But even then, in my first round, in my mock 1.0, I had 10 players from the Big 10 in the first round and only nine from the SEC. That's obviously a vast difference than what we saw in the late 2018, 17, 18, 19 when it was just SEC littered with the SEC in the NFL. Now, aside from that, here's what I find interesting is that you bring up the bigs. And that's something I want to sit on really quickly because when you look at bigs,

what you see is that you've got a defensive tackle from Ohio State in there. You've got all these bigs from Miami. You've got Maui Noah, the tackle, probably a top three pick, maybe top five pick. You've got Utah, maybe two first round offensive tackles. And so you're right when you sit there and you look at the bigs. And then even the skill, if you look at the best skill on the board, best running back, Notre Dame, best wide receiver. a debate between Carnell Tate and Mackay Lemon, both from the Big Ten.

So even the skill is sitting outside of that footprint, which is something that we haven't seen in a long time. Yeah, and that's why I've said. I think Lane Kiffin's interesting, and he'll make LSU fun, but there are no more guarantees. I mean, it just, I'm sorry, but the NIL and the transfer portal has changed the world. So give me your thoughts on Fernando Mendoza. quarterback is a really hard position to evaluate because so much of it is like,

like Ty Simpson just hasn't played much college football. Like the number of starts can end up being hugely rewarding or problematic. I think my takeaway in Mendoza is, as great as Kurt Signity is, they lose three games minimum without Mendoza. They're not beating Miami, Ohio. state and they're not beating Penn State, minimum Iowa and Oregon are up for debate. How do you view him? How transcendent?

How normal? Where do you put him? So there's, to me, there's this line that you have to, and this is all players, but more specifically for a quarterback, does he translate regardless of fit? I call it, are you an above the X's and O's player? You know, where it just doesn't, it doesn't matter. I think it's incredibly difficult to find those players and it's more specifically difficult to find them at the quarterback position.

The last guy that I can remember at the quarterback position that was just regardless of where he went, organizational structure, X's and O's was Andrew Luck. I thought he was the most can't miss. Just take him and you'll be fine and that was the case. Mendoza doesn't quite cross that line, which is fine, which is fine. So I do think that fit still matter. However, I'm a huge believer that with all of this skill and you can run around and you can do a lot of different things.

But even Patrick Mahomes and every single quarterback that has to go and win a Super Bowl and win big playoff games has to own the game from the pocket. You have to do that in the National Football League. You cannot run around yourself into a Super Bowl. I don't think that that happens. And when you look at Mendoza and his best performances and his most clutch performances and the most important parts of the season, what was he doing, Colin, making huge throws from the pocket? Third downs, fourth downs, on the road, Iowa, Oregon, Penn State, Big Ten Championship game, Ohio State, Natty, Miami. What was he doing? Late in the game, laid in the down sequence, making throws from the pocket.

I think he's accurate. It reminds me a little bit of Michael Pinnock's and his accuracy. in the vein of he's a leverage thrower. Let me tell you what I mean by leverage thrower. A lot of people talk about 50-50 situations, contested catches, right? We talk about that all the time with wide receivers. And yet, Colin, the best quarterbacks never throw 50-50 balls. They're always putting the percentage in the wide receiver's advantage

because of the leverage that they throw with from a ball position and ball placement standpoint. Well, he does that. Every time he throws the ball outside to Charlie Becker or Elijah Surat or Omar Cooper, he's giving them the advantage because it's away from the defender, whether it's down the field or in the middle or on the sideline, he does that. And for those two reasons, owning it from the pocket and big moments and being an anticipatory leverage

thrower, I think that this guy is, I don't want to say can't miss, but man, I think he's absolutely going to succeed in the national football league. So you put out a top 10 college football coaches list this week, and it got some pushback. nothing jumped out to me. I kind of thought it made a lot of sense to me.

I do think Lane Kiff and you had him at 10 is very interesting and really leans into social media. But I will say when he left Ole Miss, they were still very, very good. The one we all talked about was Steve Sarkisian at number six. I love Sark. But I have said before, in close games, he gets wacky. In close games, I don't always trust him. And in close games sometimes, Sark's teams aren't perfectly buttoned up. For anybody that would look at your list, and by the way, for the radio audience, it goes, Kurt Signetti, Ryan Day, Kirby Smart, Dan Lannning, Marcus Freeman.

I mean, listen, they're all great. Sark, Kyle Woodingham, the young man at BYU, who I didn't even know until he took the job at BYU. He's been a big hit. Kiff and Cristobal. I don't have a problem with any of it. I really don't. Is it Kalani Sataki, the coach for BYU? Yeah, yeah.

I mean, he's, he's been a huge hit for them. Yeah, Penn State wanted him badly, almost had him. And he stayed at BYU. But your point about Sark is interesting. How do you view Sark when people say, come on, hey, clad, he's got Texas resources, Clat, give me a break. He doesn't win the big game. I would say, why wasn't Texas, Texas before Steve Sarkesian got there?

you know and so like they had one 10-win season in the 11 and basically the decade before he got there and now he's a perennial 10-win team now did they underperform this last year yeah they were pre-season number one they had the heism trophy favorite and and they faltered i think it was mostly because he missed on the edge at wide receiver and they didn't rebuild their offensive line i thought that was the bigger issue other than arch didn't pan out i i mean that's to me that was an overblown narrative Here's what I said during the episode. Now, I would encourage everyone to go check it out. You can check it out on YouTube at Joel Clatt Show.

But the column, the thing about it, Sark, is I could make the argument that he should be higher than six. Because he's one of the best game day, game planning play callers in college football. He's just been to two national semifinals and was a play from playing for the national championship in each of those games. Did not get run out of the building, even by the eventual national champion in Ohio State. Those were great phenomenal football games. You could also make the argument that he should be lower because he underperformed based on expectations last year. So he was, I thought, the most difficult ranking,

and that's why I put him right in the middle. I put Marcus Freeman ahead of him because Freeman has gotten to the national championship game and Sark right behind him. So that's why it was five and six right there. Again, I think you can make the argument, Sarkesian should be lower. I think that you can make the argument he could be higher. and that's why he put him right there at six.

I think he's fantastic. And if you were also real quickly, my top three of all won national championships. Davo hasn't done anything recently, so that's why he's not in the top 10. My next three, Dan Lannning, Marcus Freeman, Steve Sarkesian, those are the guys that I would bet on most likely to win a national championship in the next two or three years.

Yeah. By the way, you know, not that it's a big topic, but Dabo's kind of going into the transfer portal now. He's doing a Mike Shishafsky where he's like, yeah, I'm getting beat by guys who are in the portal. I think I'm going to spend some money on the portal. But the problem is is Dabo is doing it like, like I get in a swimming pool. I hate cold water.

Like I cannot stand getting in a swimming pool. You know, it's like I'm going to get in there. My boys are like, come on, dad. And I'm like tiptoeing in. And then I get in. I'm like, oh, it's cold. This is terrible. That's Dabo with the transfer portal.

He's like reluctantly dipping his toe in. And then now he's in. And he's like, this is awful. It's cold in here. There's tampering all over the place. It's like, yeah. Yeah, dabble, that's the case. Yeah.

I also think Texas, I've always said college football has three glamour programs. Texas, USC, and Miami. They're glamour programs, meaning Miami, Coral Gables, L.A. and Austin. They're music centers. They're cool cities. They're kind of international. There's a lot going on. There's a lot of distractions.

You're not saying to be. I'm saying that they're the most premium brand. You're not saying premium brands. You're just saying glamour from a... Okay, I see what you're saying. I'm saying glamorous. I'm saying, Miami, USC and Texas have unique collegiate challenges. Even in the NFL, I've had GMs tell me this.

If you're in a port city, maturity matters on the players you draft. Like Miami, New Orleans, L.A. Those are port cities. Port cities, there's a lot more action at night. There's a lot of stuff going on at night in New York. York, New Orleans, Miami, L.A., they're port cities. And so my take is Miami, USC, and Texas, they have these unique challenges. It's hard. You get distracted very easily in Austin, Coral Gables, in L.A. So, I mean, USC is still trying to get back into the top 10. It's not as easy

as, and so my take is Texas, people just go, oh, a state school, Texas, a lot of money, easy to get to Texas got a lot of donors with a lot of money and a lot of opinions. I would say this. I think that you're absolutely right, except it's not because of the distractions for the players. It's because of how many power brokers are in that city that want their hand in the program. There's too many cooks in the kitchen at all of those places. And so that's why the power brokers at Texas choked that program out for a decade. USC the same thing.

They had a lack of leadership and everybody was in there and they all wanted power. Miami's similar. You know, people all around the program, you know, made it difficult. And it wasn't until those programs and we'll see if Lincoln Riley can do it. I think it's a big year for him. And by the way, I think USC is going to be really good next year. But it took Mario Cristobal strong leader. It took Steve Sarkeesian a strong leader to come in and what I would say like be the adult in the room

amongst all the people striving for power at those places in order to write the ship and kind of get them back to where they wanted to be. All right. That's good. Do you have your mock draft? Do we have, let's let's show his mock draft. Yeah, it's up. It's up.

Let me see. Nothing bothered me. I thought it was reasonable. I love that your standard is like, does anything bother me about what Clat puts out? No, it's not. I like, I like, you have size. I like, I like, I like the Miami guys a lot. I really liked watching that program this year.

They, they were nasty at the end. end of the year. Then you got the Utah. I don't have a problem. Caleb Downs at 12. Cowboys would be lucky to get Caleb Downs. They would be lucky. I just, I couldn't get him off the board. I think he's probably the best defender. And then here's the other one that I think is fascinating. And I went all the way to the Chiefs with Jeremiah Love. But where does Love go? I think he's a fantastic. He's a wonderful player. Man, he's got a real Jim here. Gibbs field. Exactly. A hundred percent. He's a Jamir Gibbs, maybe McCaffrey, home run hitter that can catch it and play every down. Like, those guys don't grow on trees.

So Jeremiah Love is an interesting one to me. Man, you go look at the first round. There's a reason Miami got to the national championship. That's exactly right. I got dudes. They got dudes. Could see anybody. You as well.

Have a good one, dude. All right. And again, a reminder, tomorrow's show will be a cross between futuristic and terrifying and I'm going to give you a glimpse of something and you're not quite going to be totally comfortable with it. And I'm not sure if I am. But, you know, that's the way we roll here. Hey, Colin, real quick, I'm sorry to interrupt.

The clatt list of the top coaches in college football. I don't know if we can get it on the screen. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the BYU coach in the top 10. Now, you referenced it. He's good. is he the eighth best coach in college football? Well, I think, I think when you look at the challenges sometimes with BYU, he's been a home run. He's been a home run.

Dabo Sweeney would be in my top 10. I was going to say like, Dabo's, and this is something Mike Shoshavsky learned, be very, this is not an era in sports internationally to be rigid. Right. Like this is why this era, Bobby Knight had success in the 70s and 80s, the late Bobby Knight. He would not work in sports today. You've got to be so willing to pivot and be fluid and make changes. Like Rick Petino says, you can sit and complain about NIL and transfer portal. It's like complaining about AI.

Or you can work with it. You can sit and complain about AI, oh, I'm going to lose my job. Or spend some time on chat GPT and try to figure it out. Well, so this list is great. This is a great summer topic. I mean, listen, Mario Crystal Ball has built, he got Cam Ward there last year, he goes to the national championship, and he's ninth? I love Kyle winning him, great regular season coach. What are we doing here?

I mean, I'm floored by this list. I was gobsmacked by, I like Sark a lot. He's been to some playoffs. Like Mario Cristobal 9? I tell you, guy, I'd have on it. Can Lane Kiffin get to a playoff? Can he do anything? Kailen Dabor would be on my list.

Caleb Dabour's an amazing coach. Listen, this is going to, if people see this, they're going to be ticked off. Like, I know Sweeney's your guy and all. You guys have a romance. Colise Sataki at BYU in the last two years is 23 and 4. Awesome. Great. That's outstanding.

Can I get more than a two-year sample? What do you want to go back? Five years? Ten? I just, there's a lot here. And Signetti racing to one is kind of sort of fascinating. But go off, clatt. Yeah.

Yeah, I think I think you need to do your version of this list in like a month or two. Because this has me kind of sort of fired up. And when the phone is buzzing, like what is Clack doing, you know, from college football fans in late February? I don't have a problem with the top five. I'd have the order a little different. I would as well. I think you have to be fair to Kirby Smart.

I mean, Kirby Smart is struggling to keep due to NIL issues. He's struggling. People think Georgia, oh, it's right by Atlanta. big money in Atlanta, believe it or not, does not lean into Georgia football. They got pro sports. Yeah. So they've lost a lot of players because they can't afford them. So I think Kirby Smart has got an argument number one.

I would go Ryan Day 2. You know, listen, I like Kurt Signetti, but they would have lost four games minimum, three games minimum, five games possible without Mendoza. The year before, it was a lot of fools gold where they got into the playoff and they were like punning from midfield down two touchdowns. Like they didn't have any smoke offensively. So I'm not saying, like I think Indiana this year is going to lose multiple games. Yeah.

I love Signetti. He can't be number one. I agree. Two great years. Lannning and Freeman for the last like four years have been utterly dominant in hospital. Ask yourself this. If you were an athletic director today and you had to hire a head coach. I've said this before.

I would hire, I think Marcus Freeman. is who I would hire. I think he's a relentless recruiter, very current. NFL teams and GMs are looking at him. Lanning would have to be two, right? I mean, come on. Lannings,

they would be two or three. Yeah, I would, if I was going to hire a coach, Freeman would be number one, and then the rest of them would get in line. Yeah. I mean, with the recency bias for Signet. And I love Signetti.

Obviously, he's been amazing, you know, but this list was, Holy smokes. Well, that's, you know, we bring flat on the show. Four minutes of absolute fire there. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app.

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the Jonas Brothers, and guess what, we have some big news. What's the news, news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas, we invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend.

But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes.

I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast. We could call in and say, hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&Lenberg. and L. Michael's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs' tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening.

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

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

Kyle Van Nuys, Sam Darnel, joining us next hour. Tomorrow at this time, we introduce something that it may scare the pets and the children in your house. So you just have to be ready for it. The family's going to need to sit down in front of the TV. You may want to pull over on the side of the road as we introduce it, but that will be tomorrow on the show. Jay Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Let's start with one of your best friends in the NFL, Colin Max Crosby. That's your guy. I can't wait for you to get a matching Raiders tattoo. Oh, wait, he could be on the move. GM John Spitech made it clear. Okay? made it clear he expects Crosby to be a raider in 2026.

That's the very latest from the Raiders. I don't know about you, Colin, but if I can get two ones or a one and a two, a high two, for Crosby, I'm taking it now and I'm running. I mean, you're selling high on a superstar edge rusher. Remember, go look, our staff should look this up. Go look at how many draft picks the Raiders have. Multiple, I believe they have multiple fours, multiple fives. The Raiders can afford Max Crosby.

Let's just start with that. He's an elite player. They drafted him. He's over delivered. He was a fourth round pick. He's over delivered. Yes. They have, so they're going to get their quarterback with the first pick and not have to pay him for four to five years.

Okay. So you're the most expensive position. They're going to get a discount for four years. They also have a second, a third multiple. I think they have two or, huh? Ten picks. They just told me. Ten.

So if seven of the ten picks, Let's say 7 to 8 make the roster for the next two years. That is a lot of, and they have a lot of mid-round picks, like multiple fours, multiple fives, and then some late round picks, multiple six. The Raiders, and the Raiders don't have a stacked roster, giving it, you're not, this isn't the Rams or the Eagles where it's harder for a fifth round pick to make the roster. It's stacked. So my take is the Raiders are going to have 10 picks.

They may, they could move down and get more. they're going to have so many. And last year, I thought they had a pretty solid draft. They can afford Max Crosby. They're not paying any. They're not paying a receiver. They're not paying Brock Bowers. They're not paying Gentie.

They're only paying Colton Miller on the offensive line. Their best interior lineman, they drafted out of Oregon two years ago. They don't need to get rid of Crosby. They got nothing but cheap labor everywhere. So, Colin, I like to use this analogy often. I want bites at the apple. If I can get a first round pick and a second round pick that's like top 40-ish for Max Crosd, I'm taking it and running.

You're not getting the Micah Parsons deal. I'm sorry, he was much younger than Max Crosby. But Colin, it's like when you go to a bar and you're a young guy, if you talk to 15 girls, you might get three or four numbers. If you talk to like three girls, maybe you get one. It's a numbers game. It's the same deal with the draft. They're not winning anything with Max Crosby.

You and I said two years ago, get off T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh, just move on. They did not. I said this with Miles Garrett. What are we doing? Miles Garrett's awesome, but Colin, they're not winning anything. Yeah, but you're conflating two different things. You're saying they're not winning with Max Crosby.

That's not Max Crosby. No, it's not his fault. That's right. So you don't get rid of somebody. I mean, hell, even quarterback is reliant on protection and coaching and weapons and a run game to win games. Don't conflate two different issues. They're not winning. Let's get rid of Max.

No, they're not winning, and Max is easily their best player. You're in the business of drafting, developing, and paying stars. Why would I let the second best pass rusher in the league go? He's going to have a huge... He's second now? He's second behind Miles Garrett? Yeah, but here's the thing. Yes, in my opinion.

So here's my take. GMs have told me this through the years. You don't want that many draft picks. I don't want more draft picks. What I want is more great players. Who won the Super Bowl? Seattle. They got like seven great players.

Okay, what I don't want, 10 draft picks is probably, I would give them, if I was the Raiders, I would give up two fives and a six to get another fourth or third round pick. You don't want to be too young. So one of the only veterans that delivers for them

is Colton Miller, the left tackle, Max Crosby, the rush end. Those are two that are only veteran guys that actually deliver. Why would I get rid of one of them? I mean, I like your strategy of draft, develop, and pay.

They did that with Max. Now he's entering his late 20s, almost 30. I just, I don't see the upside of having him. I mean, maybe you want a leader in the locker room. But man, I'm just, those picks could be used to build the Seattle type of honesty. You're in a division with Mahomes, Herbert, and Bo Necks. You don't think there's value in the best rush end in the division? I don't think they're competing next year.

And then you waste another year of Max being a star. All right, let's move on at Tyreek Hill. Colin, interesting scenario unfolding where he is on the market. Anybody can go get him. He's probably not healthy, all coming off the injuries. But you remember the Honey Badger, Tyrone Matthew? He believes a reunion between Tyreek Hill and the Chiefs make sense. Me and him left the Chiefs at the same time, right?

And I think when we left the Chiefs, people didn't really, they didn't feel the loss of Tyrone Matthew and Tyreek Hill because they went to Super Bowl, right? Right. And one of the things that, like I said, impressed me the most with Tyreek was, he was just like me. He's a football player. He don't miss practice. He's going to take all his reps. He don't miss no games.

And I think given with the Chiefs of Sort of experience the last three years at the wide-received position, he may be the next best teacher for them. Yeah. Good luck with that. She Rice, Tyreek Hill. I'm not a big...

There's some nicknames floating around for that new wide receiver crew. They're not good. Anyways, I don't want to... I don't want to bash the Chiefs anymore. I know King's. Casey fans had a long off season so far, and they're still over the cap. Anyways, let's go to the NBA, Colin, where, I don't know, I guess newly retired point guard, Chris Paul, who has always been just an angry guy.

He was asked, Colin, who the best point guard in the league is, okay? Okay. I mean, you know some of the best point guards in the NBA right now. Yeah, yeah. Well, here's Chris Paul giving the answer with no hesitation. Luca Donchick versus Shea Gilgis Alexander who runs the one? Shea. Oh, he didn't even think about that.

It's a Shea. But he just loved to be in the gym. Love to be in the gym. He's going to do all the work and taking care his body. So you ain't got to be a locked down defender or whatnot. But when you playing defense for your team, your teammates just want to see that the stars actually try. Actually try on defense. I got a lot of respect for Steph, Shea, and all these guys.

who at least try on the defensive end because that's part of it and that's what your teammates want to see. Finally, somebody says that this is what players have been talking about. This is why I've been more critical of Luca. SGA, there's an argument that he's not a terrible defender. He's the worst on OKC, but they have like seven elite defenders. And the truth is about Luca, Chris Paul's telling you, you don't have to be a great defender. You've got to have effort on the defense event. SGA is not great, he gets pushed around, but he gives you effort.

And so, again, one of the things that you can't deny with Luca, he no longer dunks. Isn't that worry a little bit? So, first of all, the MC of this event, whoever that guy is, should have been like to Chris Paul. What are you saying? Luca doesn't try on defense? Because that's what he was insinuating. Now, I'm sure Chris Paul would have backed off that. But it is weird.

You know, Chris Paul is boys with... LeBron James, right? Yeah. You think Chris and LeBron maybe have had some discussions and LeBron's telling Chris, he don't try on defense. He's not in the gym. Well, he doesn't have to tell him. Everybody in the players talk, everybody in the league knows it.

So you know, as TV pundits, we have our guys we like. One of your guys is coming up in an hour. I think we have a countdown on the screen for Sam Darnold. Luca is one of my guys. I'm not going to stand for the slander. This is really getting, I feel like it's personal because I'm a Luca guy. We're a year into this experiment, and it still isn't right. Well, Colin, remember, this team was built for AD and LeBron.

They were built for that. The contract, everything lined up. And then LeBron said, oh, we're going to hand this is going to be AD's team. That was like a big talking point on the show. And then they trade AD for Luca. You can't just turn the Titanic around instantly. It takes a year. I think this is the pivotal off season.

And LeBron's contract comes off the books. The Lakers have the most cap space in the league. this is the off-season. They go for Janus. If that fails, plan B better be good, but you build Luca what he needs. Rome was not built in a day, Colin?

Come on, man. I can't believe you're hating on Luca. I'm stunned. I think Rome was built faster than the Luca LeBron Austin Reeves. Troika is working. J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. Sam Darnold next hour. See if you're You're loyal in life, you know, people want to be in your orbit. So we get Sam Darnold in about an hour from now. In Chicago, it's The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app.

Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a...

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

Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing. a bit for the podcast for people could call in and say, Hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funny. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm Bray. breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris, every match, every upset, and what it really

takes to win on Clay. Jenchen went. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface, because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court-side seat to the French Open.

Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. 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. Tomorrow on the herd, we debut some new futuristic technology on this show. I see the graphic. Colin, on the cutting edge, which I rarely reside in that space. So tomorrow, cutting edge. You know, I just saw something. I'm just reading.

I don't bring my phone out until like halfway through the show. I don't want to be bothered. Halfway through the show, though, it gets later. Sometimes stories break. I'm reading a story about multiple teams in college football, LSU, Texas, have crossed the $40 million threshold with NIL. And I've been hearing this for years. It is not sustainable.

It's like people have been telling me that about the debt. my entire life. It is not sustainable. Well, it is if our GDP grows, our economy's growing. If the economy grows, we can handle debt. Europe's bigger issue, their economy's not growing at the speed of ours. So they can handle less debt. So, you know, I hear this all the time, oh, I have found in my life, when people say something, it's not sustainable, it all comes down to one basic question. How much do we love it? If we love something, it's sustainable. People find money. Companies find money. Universities find money if they care. And at Texas, they want a national championship. These billionaires have never had more chips stacked.

And they're like, yeah, I'll give you another $7 million check. I mean, Mark Cuban sold the Mavericks and made like $380 billion or something insane. That's what he sold them for. How much he got, I don't know, after taxes. but he wrote a massive check. Like, is that the last check that Mark Cuban could afford? We are exploding in this country with billionaires and 100 millionaires. In fact, the other couple weeks ago, I have a friend that lives down on the coast of Florida. And I got a little email from him, and he said, oh, he goes, you know, it's so expensive down here. And I'm thinking, yeah, Florida's coast has always been expensive. And I went to, like, Realtor.com.

and I priced the most expensive homes in like West Palm Beach. I just wanted to see what they were. I was like 10 homes in. It was still a hundred million. It's like, and I'm told the debt's a problem. AI is going to displace jobs. Europe's falling apart. And I'm like, there was not that many hundred million dollar homes in West Palm Beach three years ago.

But people like the water. They like the beach. They like Florida. They like no state taxes. they like the less, you know, fewer regulations. So Miami's become a massive tech hub. And a lot of rich people internationally are moving there. If you love something, it's sustainable.

In America, we'll find money. So I read all these NIL stories that everybody's just like 40 million dollars. A couple years ago, Ohio State spent 20. And all I heard was, that is not sustainable. Now we're at 40. A USC spent in 30. And they're building a $300 million dollar. facility and they're paying Lincoln Riley $80 million in a contract. It's L.A. They'll find money.

That's all I know. In Georgia, very few things are bigger than Georgia Bulldog football. They're going to end up finding $25 million a year. That's what they're going to do. Joel Clatt was on earlier. We talked about Fernando Mendoza, the prospect. Is he Andrew Luck? No, but Clatt thinks very highly of him. every single quarterback that has to go and win a Super Bowl and win big playoff games has to own the game from the pocket. You have to do that in the National Football League. You cannot run around yourself into a Super Bowl.

I don't think that that happens. And when you look at Mendoza and his best performances and his most clutch performances and the most important parts of the season, what was he doing, Colin, making huge throws from the pocket? Yeah, I like him. He's a little stiff. according to all the NFL people I talk to, a little stiff. I don't think it gets the way of his game.

He's like Matt Ryan Plus, but I wouldn't get rid of Max Crosby. They have a ton of draft picks. I would, you know, my theory on this whole thing is do what the Seahawks do. Keep your defense really young, draft well, and if you have to spend money,

spend it on a star receiver, a quarterback, a left tackle, maybe a center. I just saw today a list of the top free agents available in the NFL. And like number four was the Raven Center from Iowa, Tyler Lindelbaum. And my take was, oh, that's what the Raiders should do.

Go follow the Bears footprint. What's the first thing? Because they have a left tackle. And then the rest of the O line, they've got an interior O lineman, JPJ from Oregon, good player, but they're a mess at center because he's playing guard. So the Raiders are a mess at center. Go do what the Bears did, Ben Johnson for Caleb Williams. Got Drew Dalman at center, Joe Tuny at guard, Jonah Jackson at guard, solidified guard center guard, stay away from Caleb's feet, and what happened?

His big plays increased, his sacks and negative plays regressed, and it was a magical season for Caleb. If you're the Raiders and they got cap money, go get the Raven Center. He's entering his prime, anchor that offensive line, Colt Miller on the left side. the Oregon kid who they drafted a couple years ago. He's a nice player. He'll be an elite guard probably at some point in the next couple years. But that's where I'd spend my money. I think Mendoza's really good.

Sam Darnels joining us next hour. Again, I don't want you guys to freak out on the futuristic advancements. We're making on the show tomorrow. But about nine months ago, one of my, one of the big shots at Fox came down and said, hey, get a load of this. What do you make of it? And I just, I couldn't sleep for about four days. So it may be a little unsettling to the pets and the kids.

Be seated when we introduce it. I'm not sure if J. Mack may have to take some drama mean. It could get a little rocky and turbulent on the flight tomorrow. This is a lot. This is new for you. And I'm not sure. I'm not going to give it away, but it's a lot to handle. So just make sure you come in stable tomorrow.

Well, they did tell me you may need a gummy for this experience. So I am bringing some pharmaceuticals. I'm always pro gummy. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what?

We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We get to ask other people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know.

I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. She's an outsider to win the French fame. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lennar Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now and actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcasts on the Iheart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.