The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 2 - NFL team reviews have leaked, live from the NFL Combine, Robert Mays

Episode Date: February 27, 2026

Colin talks about the leaked NFL team reviews including the surprising report about the Steelers He talks to Robert Mays from The Athletic about the NFL Combine, the Cowboys always overpaying for players, Lamar Jackson's contract status with the Ravens, and moreSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We got baseball. We got the Combine. We got Michigan, Illinois tonight. Man, there's some good college basketball this weekend. I saw Andy Katz in the building today. Big college basketball scribe. It's all fired. CNN's going to have a new owner.

Oh boy. Don't get in trouble, coward. You know what? Be careful. Be careful. We got the same great owners over at this company. Wrong. Leadership.

Robert May is going to be showing up a couple minutes. You know, I think people of power do need to be held, you know, somewhat accountable, right? And so the NFL players, the truth, always comes out. The NFL players, the NFLPA, they want those report cards out every year at this time after a season's over to say, here's the good owners, here's the bad owners, because it holds billionaires accountable. And there's some bad owners. There's about seven great quarterbacks in this league, seven great coaches, seven great GMs, and seven great owners. There's a lot of bad ones. So the Steeler report card came out, and I've never been on the Steeler plane, but apparently

it's only got one engine because they got Fs across the board. They got. They got a got F on team travel and F on treatment of families and F on locker room. How can you have an F on a locker room? Team travel. I mean, what are you giving people cold hot dogs for lunch? Like, I didn't even know how you get that grade. So, but I think this stuff's, you know, they can get Fs across the board. They got some, you know, B's and the training staff got a B plus.

The weight room got a B. The nutritionist, the dietician got a B. there's a couple A's in there. Special teams coordinator, everybody liked. But ownership got a D minus and Fs everywhere. And I think it's important. The Roonies have always had a reputation as good people, but cheap. And it used to be the Steelers were up here and the Bengals were down there and now they're contemporaries. So I don't know how team travel can be an F.

Are they taking like a biplane? I don't even know. Is it an open cockpit? I don't even understand that. How can you butcher team travel? By the way, the head coach and the special teams coordinator, they got A's on this report card. They're both gone.

So the average grade is going to plummet for the Steelers. But I think it's important. I think some of these owners, the cheap groups, the frugal groups, and the bad owners need to be called out. And players don't have very much leverage. They have it in baseball. They have it in the NBA. they don't have a lot of leverage in the NFL and they work their butt off and a very few players

get into trouble 99% of players are incredibly committed. I think some of these owners need to be called out. With that Robert Mays, writer for the athletic, but where I hear him is the athletic football show podcast, which is awesome. He is attending the NFL Combine this week, which I didn't go to, but friends did. And it is fun. That's what I will say. It's a lot of meeting.

They call it the underwear Olympics, but it's a lot of deep. deal-making. So let's start with this. I said earlier, I can't fault the premise of what the Cowboys are doing. They're spending the money on the right side. They're, they've got a B-plus quarterback, good weapons, O-lines getting better, but it doesn't, it feels a little bit like they never get anybody at a discount. The Rams and the Seahawks each have eight players like, like Puka, or a Devin Witherspoon, and you're like, man, you're getting really several good years at a discount. The Cowboys feel like they get nobody. They impose their own tariff, Robert.

Everybody's expensive. So when you look at these numbers and Pickens is going to be franchised, what jumps out to you? I agree with you. And I think they had a span of this franchise where everyone was on a discount. Them not winning when DAC was the cheapest contract in the NFL first starting quarterback and probably the biggest bargain in the entire league. That was their best window. Now it just becomes harder.

The way that these contracts. are structured. And this is always something I've been frustrated with with the Cowboys. This is an ownership group that can throw money around and they don't always. This is not always a team that spends a lot of cash. This year, they're going to be a team that spends a lot of cash. They're going to pay $28 million to George Pickens. They're going to restructure the deals for DAC, CD, probably Tyler Smith. And so those numbers look big. But after the restructures, they'll be small enough where they can add other pieces. My frustration with the Joneses is you can throw around money like the Eagles do in order to kind of stretch out these windows in a way that

not every organization can. And so I think we're building to that this spring. And actually, I like to see that from the Cowboys. So I brought this up. I have been a huge supporter. I think Steve Bushati, I've had, I've had people around the league say he's very involved. He's very smart. I think the Ravens are well run. I didn't know when he was in college, if Lamar was going to be a good NFL quarterback, but I've spent the last five, six years defending Lamar Jackson. But now he wants a new deal, and there's been sort of the, the Kauai Leonard like he's hurt, is he not hurt, mom is an agent? There's a little bit of mystery around him. He doesn't necessarily want to be a part of off-season camps. And I said the other day is, two things can be true,

I can like him a lot. But I can look at John Harbaugh. and John Harbaugh, Jackson Dart is going to be one-twentth of Lamar's cap hit. And, you know, sometimes you get fired in life and it's like, I may be avoiding trouble. And I look at Jesse Minter what he's taking over, Linderbaum, Lamar Jackson, Robert. I don't know if the Ravens are in a Super Bowl window if Lamar gets what he wants. I think it feels that punitive. Am I wrong on that? I think they need more things to go their way this offseason than they do in a typical off season.

Because if you look at the Ravens over the last 15 to 20 years, one of the most impressive things they've done, they always have these guys in the pipeline at all these different positions. I look at edge rusher. That's my favorite example. The amount of like third to fifth round picks that the Ravens had at Edge Rusher that they would just cycle through the next one and then that guy would get paid. Matthew Judon, Pernell McPhee. they were always being able to tap into these guys. That area of the roster,

they're not two and three deep at some of these positions. And so they're scrambling more this offseason, interior offensive line, edge rusher, safety, corner, if they move on from Marron Humphrey, then they would be in a typical year. But I still think there's enough baseline talent, and I do think they'll figure out enough financial wiggle room by restructuring Lamar's deal,

where if they do hit on two or three of these things, combined with how exciting I am, how excited I am about the coaching staff, I do think they can thread that needle. I just think the degree of difficulty for them right now is harder than we typically ascribe to a Ravens roster. So a former scout, John Middilkov, works at the volume, and he made a point last night that was interesting.

He said, GMs now, there were 22 in-season trades last year. That's the most in like 30 years. And young GMs are just super aggressive. So when you see the Packers pay a fortune for banks, the guard, it's probably because they weren't bidding against themselves or sauce gardener two first round picks. Chris Ballard's probably not negotiating against himself. There are a lot of, it's like a hot real estate market. People are young GMs are dealmakers, not just Howie Roseman.

And I look at Malik Willis, and I know I've only got six starts. But I was kind of blown away when he went to Green Bay in like August. he's playing two weeks later, and I'm like, he's kind of got the playbook down. Like, this is impressive. And we can say, well, he's not worth 35 million. Well, I've watched his six starts. He's good.

You know, it's the old American Idol thing. I didn't need five minutes to tell Carrie Underwood had a good voice. Like, that's talent. I've watched Malik Willis. He looks really talented to me. And I do believe with all these young GMs, two teams are going to be.

interested. Are you hearing anything about that? I think there's going to be a robust market for him. I mean, John Eric Sullivan, who's the GM for the Dolphins, first year, GM, he was in Green Bay with Malik last year. He came out of set at the Combine. He said, if you're a quarterback needy team and you're telling me that you're not looking at Malik Willis, you're a liar. And think about how many quarterback needy teams there are and how few avenues there are to those guys this year. It's a terrible quarterback draft. And even the veteran pool of players, the Niners are going to want like a second round pick and change for Matt.

Jones because of how dry the pool is at that position. Right. So I absolutely think there's going to be a market from Leake Willis. The coolest thing to me is I just love watching how the league reacts to certain archetypes and trends. So let's go back like two or three years to when Baker Mayfield was just out there on the street. Baker Mayfield signed a one year $4 million deal to be the buck starting quarterback.

And then when he succeeds, you see it start to creep up. All right, Dernold's $10 million. Daniel Jones is $15 million. Justin Fields is now 20 million. And so the idea that you could have gotten Baker for $4 million bucks three years ago. And now Malik Willis is going to make $30 million a year in free agency. It just shows you how fast things change when a certain idea starts working for people.

Okay, I'm having a coughing attack. I want to ask you, though, Kvon-Thibode giants, is there a market? Yeah, absolutely. There always is for edge rushers. I mean, the idea that a perfect example of this, Jermaine Johnson gets traded to the Titans yesterday for Tavondre Sweat. Tavondre Sweat, even if schematically he doesn't fit what the Titans are, he's a second year player who played really, really good football last year.

Jermaine Johnson's making $13 million a year on his 50-year option. For an edge rusher, that's not a lot of money. So even if Kavon Thibito hasn't necessarily been everything you'd want a top five pick to be, he's still a below market level contract for guys at that position who can be contributors. So I don't think a team would give up a ton for him, but absolutely. If the Giants were willing to move him, I think they could get something for him. So you know this because you live in Chicago. The Bears could spend every draft pick on defense.

They really have no offensive holes. Running back two, tight end two, receiver three, interior O line. Maybe they could use another tackle in the, in the, building. I've made the argument. Caleb, next three years, you're getting a discount. You've got to kick the tires on Max Crosby. It's not, I mean, you're going to get too good here really quick to get good draft picks. Crosby, I think's available. I wouldn't move him. Bears Max Crosby. Do you think they're interested? The only problem is just how much money they've committed to the position already. So if you look at it, the contract they gave Dio O'Dango last year in free agency,

they cannot get off that in short order and save any money. They've already paid Montez sweat. Just purely to edge rushers, the bears are accounting against the cap, have the fifth highest price tag for their edge rushers in the NFL right now. And they can't move off any of those guys. And so if they move some money around and maybe if they wanted to skimp other places, but if you bring Max Crosby, you're spending like $65 million combined,

solely on your edge rushing room, when now you need another linebacker because Tremaine Edmonds is moving on, you need two starting safeties, you need a left tackle because yours tore as Achilles last year. So I love the idea just when you're trying to maximize the window. I just wonder with everything they've committed there and the other holes they have,

can they actually afford somebody like that? So the chiefs don't have a lot of picks. They need a right tackle. They need a running back. They need edge rushers. You know, it's funny. Robert, we say this a lot on the show. Fall in like with your players.

Don't fall in love. I mean, look, the Golden State Warriors. Like, they just won't move off Steph. Steph's remarkable. He's a good leader, but they're old and slow and small. They probably should have at least kicked tires on stuff three years ago. Chris Jones, down year. Kelsey, probably time.

Mahomes, been hit enough in his life and been banged up, coming off an injury. Brett Feats doesn't have a lot of picks. Your kind of thoughts on this draft and the next couple of months for the chiefs, because Chargers get their tackles back and they got cap space, and the Raiders are going to be better with Kubiak and Mendoza. And Bo Nix works. Like, this is a real time now. Mahomes 1.0 got to a bunch of Super Bowls and a bunch of rings.

Brady had the advantage over Mahomes. A lousy division, and there were multiple buys. There's one buy now, or you're mostly going on the road. And Robert, this division is brutal. The next couple of months for Kansas City is crucial. What's the game plan, in your opinion? The biggest difference to me is when you're a really good team year and year out, you don't often get to pick in the top 10.

So the fact that they bottomed out last year, When you look at team like the Eagles are a perfect example of this to me. It's actually beneficial if you're one of these teams who's consistently good and everyone in the building has job security for you to have one really bad season amidst all of the good seasons because it allows you to restock with talent you wouldn't get otherwise. Those down years for the Eagles when they can pick a guy like Devante Smith, those have benefited them. The Chiefs haven't had any of those until this year. So their biggest need to me across the entire roster, I think you can fill running back with a free agent. I think you can get the skill sets you need a wide receiver in the free agent market.

Pass rushing juice is the number one this team needs. And in this draft at number nine, there is likely going to be a path to a talent that they don't often have access to via the draft. So if they can find an edge rusher at nine, if they can go out and get a big bodied receiver like a Joanne Jennings, somebody like that in free agency, if they can find a Travis E.T.N. or Kenneth Walker in the running back market. Now I'm starting to buy into this because the offensive line is mostly coming back. I think the offense is a couple tweaks away from getting a little bit better and then pass rush is the number one thing that they need. And so in this offseason specifically based on what's available in free agency and where they're drafting, I do think they have an opportunity to feel different by the midpoint of this season than they did by the midpoint of last season.

Okay, so we're showing the television audience, FS1 audience, the current NFL draft order, 1 to 14. I feel like the Giants could get a tackle at 8, 9. If they could move down two or three spots, they would. They need a right tackle and another weapon. I'm a believer in the Giants. I think they're going to get really good, really quick. Is there a team to you? If I said, Robert, we got a major move in the top 14,

up or down. Is there one guess you'd have? I'm interested in Dallas. They've got those two first-round picks. They've got a few more picks this year. Is there an edge rusher they love? Is there a linebacker that they love? Like Sunny Stiles had a phenomenal combine yesterday,

the off-ball linebacker. That is a desperate need for this Dallas team. So because they have some more draft capital this year, are they willing to be a little bit more aggressive than they would be in another season? That's the team I would keep an eye on just because I think that they desperately need a high-end defensive talent in some way.

And I wonder if they're worried about some of those guys getting to them at 12th. Yesterday it was interesting. Dan Orlovsky, who I think does a great job, he's very funny. He said something that was viewed as controversial. He said, I'm looking at the first seven or eight games and Ty Simpson's better than Fernando Mendoza.

But it should be noted that Simpson was really good early. But over the course of the season, he had no running game like at all. People got dinged up. He is more athletic, I think, than Mendoza. Mendoza and he has a very good arm. Now, Mendoza got much better about week five on. He was really a remarkable player.

So that got a lot of pushback. But there is an argument that he had a great coach in Kaelin-Abor. He was very good last year with no running game. Over the course of the season, Alabama just wasn't as talented in the NIL era. They just don't have as many good players. And so he had to carry a less talented team. We saw him play Indiana. Indiana had more good players.

So my take is I could see the Rams late in first round saying, listen, Stafford signs a two-year deal. This kid's not ready to play. Sit and watch a master, prep, and do all the film stuff. Or, and even if he's like 33rd or 38th on somebody's

board, Robert, people reach on quarterbacks all the time. It's like the one thing we kind of build in. You can reach in a quarterback. Do you hear things? Do you think things? It's a terrible market. I mean, again, Malik Willis, Mac Jones, I think that leads to a bit of a reach on Simpson. Maybe, possibly. I wouldn't, I'm never surprised by that. I mean, Jackson Dart was not supposed to be like a consensus

first round pick last year. Remember around this time, around the senior bowl, we're like, who's going to be that next quarterback? And maybe people were talking themselves into Jackson Dart. The Giants take a dice roll on him at the end of the first round. And at least so far, it looks like a worthwhile bet. If you don't have a quarterback, just take shots. Just keep taking shots. Tyler Shuck wasn't somebody that people were excited about heading into last year's draft necessarily. He goes 40th overall, which is a wasteland

for quarterbacks historically. He looks good. If I were a Sands fan, I'd be excited about Tyler Shuck. And so I think that more often than not, it is worth drafting these guys a little bit higher because let's say you miss on a guy in the second round. If you don't have a quarterback, I think that's a

downside you're willing to embrace because the upside is absolutely enormous. Yeah. Robert. By the way, our staff, don't say it publicly, but I'm looking for a restaurant recommendation in Chicago tonight, and nobody has better wrecks than Robert. So, Robert, thank you for stopping by the show. As always, you were money, and I appreciate your feedback. I've got them ready for you, so just let me know. Okay.

Robert Mays. He does great work. Yeah, it's, you know, it's like there's certain things that you should just spend the money on. And even if it's a little uncomfortable, like I'll give you an example, a mattress. Just spend the extra money. It's better for your back. It's better for your sleep. Just overspend in a mattress.

You're like, oh my God, I can't believe. Just spend on a mattress. You'll sleep better. You'll be more alert. You'll be a better parent. You'll be a happier person. You'll be a better partner. It's good for your back.

And the thing about quarterbacks is like you can reach. It's not like you're taking a guy third. But I keep saying this with like Arizona. Arizona. I think Arizona should get Malik Willis or Ty Simpson. You don't want to be the number three pick. I think they should call the Raiders. And it says they got a stink in the building. It doesn't feel right with Kyler Murray. But my take is if Arizona is at three and could move down to say eight. I mean, just, you know, just say, hey, we'll take a four. And then somebody, you move down to 11. And you say, you reach like 25 spots for Ty Simpson. You don't have to

play him his first year. But I thought, you know, Tyler Shug's a great example. None of us liked him. I watched him last year. I'm like, he's pretty good. I'm in Leak Willis. Everybody was cool on. I don't know.

I watched them in Green Bay. I have a heart. I watched every significant stat for Malik Willis. Every significant snap. Great athlete, accurate thrower, can clearly learn an offense quickly. I don't know. I think if I was Arizona's coach, offense guy from McVeigh, I look at that and think, he moves, he's got an arm, he's a little small,

but he can move the pocket. I don't know. I think he's talented. Colin, by the way, if he gets 32 million, he's getting nearly a million for every pass he attempted last season, 35 pass attempts. That's it. A quick note, because I looked it up after the guest said Jackson Dart and Tyler Shuck. So Jackson Dart was a three-year starter in college. Three years of starting in Ole Miss. Tyler Shuck, we may have forgotten this. He was in college for seven years. Years. Seven years. He was there for a hot lunch program, I think.

So, so again, those guys have way more experience than Ty Simpson. He only had 13 starts. Ty Simpson, you could look it up, but I think he sat for two or three years. He sat for three years. So, I mean, it's like Mac Jones, by the way, didn't start for a ton of years and was a pro bowler right out of the shoot because Mac Jones had been in the Alabama ecosystem with saving and good coaching. Yeah.

Fair point. I mean, if you go from Nick's. Sabin coaching to Kalin DeBoer and Ty Simpson got both. That is a master class in college football coaching. Yeah, it's weird. I like, remember how much I like Tyler, Ty Simpson during the season? He's got a nice arm. He kept winning me bets.

He was amazing in the fourth quarter. And then he faded late in the season. And you're like, oh, is this the real him? Now we have a season full of tape on him. And he was totally bottled up. He kind of got embarrassed by Indiana. Yeah, but you know what? Let's be honest.

Alabama didn't have that many good players. They went into the season with the kid Ryan. Williams, who was supposed to be a superstar, he regressed badly. I mean, if you watched Alabama play Indiana, I thought Indiana had more good players. Not even close. Yeah, Notre Dame should have been in the playoff over Alabama. Alabama is not that good. It's weird.

I'm not bashing Ty Simpson. I'm just saying, I had one of the Jets to get a quarterback in the first. No way now. I want two Ohio State guys. Honestly, I would love Reese and Sunny Stiles at 16. Reese at two, styles at 16. Yeah, maybe you'll be able to get one interstate. next year if you draft those two.

Thanks for the reminder, buddy. By February. By the way, thanks to the staff, about once a year I have a coughing attack. And I don't know where I came from, but they threw me a life preserver. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific

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Welcome back. The average user yesterday on that AI Colin had seven different exchanges. Some of you spent over an hour on it. So we'll give you a heads up later in this hour. Good stuff. Appreciate it. I think it's useful and it's a lot of fun. I messed around with it yesterday.

J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. NFLPA report cards and the Packers are an interesting team that is slowly declining. I guess they were seventh last year in overall rankings and have fallen to 21st. It was the steepest year-over-year decline of any team. The drop-off is largely driven by their decline in.

grades for training room and training staff, which are now graded out as bottom third in the league. I've always heard the Packers treat their players well. Yeah, it's weird. Like the Steelers and the Packers now all of a sudden stink, according to the report cards? Well, they're not big money teams. Pittsburgh's owners and Green Bay doesn't have an owner per se. So the big ownership groups, the money teams are San Francisco, Philadelphia, Los Angeles. you know, those are some of your richer owners.

Atlanta's got money. Some of these owners, these old school owners, you know, the Chargers and the Rams may both be in Los Angeles, but the Rams have a lot more money than the Chargers because Stan Cronkey is, I think he's the biggest landowner in America. So, you know, it's a different ballgame. Some of the, I know they're all billionaires, but, you know, like Stephen Ross is one of the richest owners.

They have unbelievable facilities in Miami. Yeah, take what you want out of these report cards. Apparently, Matt LaFleur got a B-minus. Like, he's one of the better coaches in the league. Jim Harbaugh got a crappy grade. Aaron Glenn got an A. Aaron Glenn got an A? Yeah, I mean, come on.

What are we doing? Report cards, read into them what you want. But, you know, Packers sliding. We'll see. Maybe no free agents want to go there, Colin. I don't know. I don't think there's any data to back it up. Let me see.

Let me see. Let me see. Let me look at the Packers grades here. This isn't bad. It's a bunch of A's, Bs, and Cs. I mean, if your kid got that on the report card, you'd be like, all right, that's fine. But you got to do better. I'd be overjoyed.

Well, I thought you had a couple of Rhodes Scholars in the family there, huh? Maybe not. Hit the Road Scholars, maybe. All right, let's move on to the Philadelphia Eagles, Colin. And as the world turns, we wait for A.J. Brown, something to happen with him. But the story, until that moves, is Jalen Hertz and Nick Siriani. Obviously, there's a new OC, but the latest. This report is all these OC candidates, there were a million of them.

I think I saw 18 new offensive coordinators around the league. A lot of them passed on even interviewing with the Eagles. They just like, no, thanks. I'm not interested in the job. Well, there's concerns over Hertz and there's concerns over Siriani. And it feels like an unstable situation. It seems to me that concerns are mostly with Jalen Hertz. Yeah.

So what is what I've said? When everybody's afraid of something, you need to run there? You need to go to the Eagles. That's a Super Bowl team. Super Bowl winning team, Colin. So offensive coordinators do not buy into Jalen Hertz. You know what coaches buy into Justin Herbert? Mike McDaniel had his pick of jobs.

He moved cross country to the expensive L.A. market. Jalen Hertz and the Eagles can't get a coordinator. What does that tell you? You think South Beach and McDaniel would have fit in Philly? I think he's a perfect fit. Beach McDaniels knows what everybody in the league does. Despite the fact that one quarterback has a Super Bowl and the other can't win a playoff game, Herbert's the much better player and the coordinator's...

I would agree with you on that, yes. I mean, it's obvious that, you know, there's concerns about Siriani, which is true. I've been told that. And there's concerns over Jalen Hertz. I don't know. I just, I don't know what all these people are afraid of. I mean, you've got a guy who's won a Super Bowl and went to another. You can't see over the middle.

of the field. He's got the lowest. That's what you do. That's what you do. You help him, help the quarterback figure it the hell out. What are you going to give him platform shoes? I mean, he's not one of the shortest quarterbacks in the league. What? Yeah, he is. Jalen Hertz? Yes. We're the shortest quarterbacks in the league. Okay, I'll need to see the data to back that up. I mean, it wasn't a problem when they were winning Super Bowls and winning the division. Well, they were, they won one Super Bowl and they had the best running game in the league with the best offensive line in the league. And they went to us. I mean, he threw for like 300 yards against the Chiefs, but it's neither here nor there.

Let's wrap up, Colin, with the NBA. Oh, boy, this guy, I'm surprised you didn't bash him to start the show. D'Andre Aiton? I mean, listen, he gave an interview to Dave McBenneman and said a bunch of nonsense, essentially saying they want to turn me into Clint Capella. I mean, who do you think you are, Jabbar? DeAndre Aiton is delusional. And, of course. Clint Capella is a good player.

Yes, he was awesome in Houston. The perfect. He would be ideal with Luca. block shots and rim run for dunks. Right? That's what Luca did with Gafford. Here's what's funny about DeAndre Ate. They didn't like him in Arizona.

They didn't like him in Phoenix. They didn't like him in Portland. They don't love him in L.A. Nope. So it's like he is, and he, you know, as a number one pick out of University of Arizona, he's been a disappointment. Nobody's been happy with him.

I mean, and it's always the same question on Deonre. You get the dog about, you know, in spurts, but you never really know the effort you're going to get. Like he's a very inconsistent. Some guy at times he's focused. Sometimes he's not. Sometimes you've got great energy. Sometimes there are lapses, there are halves in games you don't.

So it's always been the same thing. He's got some offensive gifts. He's got good size. He's athletic, but not much of a defensive player. And he is completely hit and miss on effort. I think that's a great analysis because you just don't, you can't play with Luca Don't. and LeBron and show up every three games with the dog mentality.

I mean, Colin, this guy's been, Clint Capella, who he was like derisively referred to, he went on social media and wrote this, you got two of the best floor general in the game, my dog, lock in? Like, that's what any basketball player is saying. How are you not locked in playing with Luca and LeBron, two generational talents? Well, I mean, see about this. The guy's like 6-11 and athletic in 23 minutes last night. Oh, gosh.

He had two points, no blocks, and the team worked. plus plus minus of minus 24. And by the way, you think going to Phoenix against his old team, he'd be all fired up and all laser zoned in. He had one of his worst games in the year. Unbelievable. Just such a disappointment. Now listen, I will, I'll defend it.

For most of the season, he's been fine and had $8 million this year. He's a bargain. That's right. I mean, listen, Dorian Finney Smith is getting, I think, 15 million from the Rockets. Remember he was with the Lakers last year and good? And it's like, yikes, that's a horrible contract he's playing terribly. So Aiton should show up and, of course, he's not. J. Mack with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. You know, Chris Broussard always says that your game is your game. You know, DeAndre Aitin's game, I loved him in college. Big, ran the floor, super athletic, nice offensive promise. But, you know, you kind of know, I mean, you say, after a guy's been in the league like three years, You just give me a name and I'll tell you what he is.

So like Austin Reeves has gotten better for the Lakers. No question. He's a hard worker. He's gotten better. But from the very beginning, he was a foul creator. He was an aggressive offensive player for his size and athletic ability. Pretty damn good finisher. Had a nice shooting touch.

He got better. But his game was his game. Handled the ball well, limited athletically. But a foul shot creator. a nice creative offensive player who works very, very hard to get better with a cool headband. But you knew what Austin Reeves was four years ago. He's just a better version of it. So with DeAndre Aiton, I kind of feel like the Sun's version went to Portland, now moved back to the warm weather,

and it's the same guy. In Chicago, it's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. 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. Well, 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, where 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 funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. Jenchian 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 Rubakina 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama,

the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters, to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action, with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Hey, I want to promote this one more time for just a couple of minutes. Go to the Fox Sports app.

90 seconds to download. Go to the Fox Sports app. When you see it, go to the lower right side, the lower right tab, and touch on SportsA. My face will pop up. It's a lot of fun. usage went up over a thousand percent yesterday when we told you about it there were some people the average exchange was seven exchanges some people spent more than an hour on it i messed around with it last night jamax show folks so the company took two years of my opening rants put it into

this thing and if you like to doodle around you have questions it's pretty thorough so give the audience a sample of jac what it does every play every stat every storyline i've got it all What do you want to know? How far will the U.S. go in the World Cup? Quarterfinals is the bar, and it's realistic. This group is friendly, you're at home, and Mauricio Pocitino was hired for nights like this. Get out of Group D, win the round of 32, and then the round of 16 is where the sports grownups usually show up and start squeezing you. Christian Polisic has to be the guy who turns possession into goals.

Not just good moments. So let me ask you, do you trust that? to handle a low block when everybody's playing for a zero-zero draw? Okay. I'm pretty smart. Sounds pretty smart to me. What's the next one? Would Colin and the Bears coach be friends?

No chance. Ben Johnson is the intense, detail-obsessed grinder, and Collins the guy who wants the big picture and the big argument. They'd respect each other. They'd laugh for about five minutes, and then they'd start debating practice habits and quarterback accountability. That's not a friendship. That's a weekly sparring session.

Different wiring, different fuel. Okay, that's pretty good. Got any more? Colin, what should I have for dinner tonight? Pot Parmesan garlic chicken pasta tonight. Warm, easy, and it eats like a win in February. You throw in chicken, cream cheese, heavy cream parmesan, let it ride for a few hours, then shred it and mix in the pasta.

Dinner's done, stress is gone. That's comfort food with a game plan. You want comfort and heavy or lighter and clean tonight. Well, J-Mack, that's your call on that. Ben Johnson and I apparently would not be friends, which is disappointing because I think I saw them in a restaurant about two weeks ago. The average user had seven exchanges, go to the Fox Sports app, touch the lower, click the lower sports AI tab at the bottom of that. You'll see it. It's really easy to do.

I tried to get them to ask who would win in a round of golf between Colin and J-Mack. You keep ducking me. I'm willing to play. I haven't picked up a club in two years. and I would still wipe the floor with you. Well, the clubs I play at, you have to wear collar shirts. And I'm not sure if you could, you're doing gun show Laker-Luca jersey, so I'm not sure that works. Grip it and rip it, baby.

Yeah. So we had Robert Mays on from the athletic podcast. He's terrific earlier. We were talking a little about the Cowboys. I can't nitpick them. They're spending all their money on offense. George Pickens, they're going to franchise tag him, which I'm not sure that's going to land great for him. He wants a long-term deal, and he can be a bit moody.

He wasn't at George. He was at Pittsburgh. at Dallas, but he's really, really good. And May's talk, my only knock on the Cowboys is they don't get a discount on anybody. You know, the Seahawks have seven or eight players, eight players that are stars darnold, and you're getting like real value. Rams have 90% of their defense. They're not paying and they're really good.

With the Cowboys, they impose their own tariffs, apparently, 15% over the market. And here's Robert Mays on the situation with Dallas and Pickens. Them not winning when DAC was the cheapest. contract in the NFL for a starting quarterback and probably the biggest bargain in the entire league. That was their best window. Now it just becomes harder. You can throw around money like the Eagles do in order to kind of stretch out these windows in a way that not every organization can. And so I think we're building to that this spring. And actually, I like to see that from the Cowboys. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, listen, they're paying the right side of the ball.

Tyler Smith was a great draft pick. Pickens and Cedie Lamb is up there with T. Higgins and Jamar Chase and Pooka and Devonthe Adams. I mean, you know, they got to restructure DAC, but DAC's a more than serviceable quarterback, B plus or better on most Sundays. So that, and they've got an offensive coach. So they just, you know, Dallas is a weird spot. I have the New York Giants winning the division, Philadelphia, 2nd, Washington, 3rd, and Dallas 4th as of now.

I just, they've got a hit on two defensive draft picks and they've got to stay healthy. I don't think they'll be awful. I think there'll be a six or a seven-win team, but I think Washington's going to rebound, and I think the New York Giants have had a great offseason. Kvon Thibodeau, by the way, is up. I talked to Robert Mays about that. There will be a market for him. Once they got Brian Burns drafted Abdul Carter, he's not nearly as valuable now,

so he's their third pass rusher, and he wants to get paid. You know, he's not a dominant player. He's not Max Crosby or Trey Hendricks, but he's pretty good. So the former Oregon Duck will eventually land somewhere, and I think there'll be a market for him, And I think that's just what's happened is that you have a lot of young GMs. And it's a much more aggressive space. And the cap's going up.

In fact, I think what I just saw this morning was the cap number over 300 million now. You know, caps going through the roof. So, you know, there's money to spend. If you have a quarterback like Drake May or Caleb Williams or Bo Nix or Jaden Daniels or Michael Penix and you're on a rookie contract, load up. I mean, I, there's, there's some players here. Travis A.T.N. is a really good running back. And Alec Pierce is a very good number two receiver.

I think Cade Otten is a solid tight end. Linderbombs a stud. Isaiah likely, you know, it's, he's an interesting player. Baltimore's probably going to have to let him go. There's, I asked you earlier, Jalen Phillips, I think the Eagles would like to retain his services. But there's some, there's some really good players. I'm not going to pay for an old Mike Evans. but there's some pretty interesting players on this list.

And guys that have a hit, I mean, I don't see a ton of injuries on this list. Mike Evans gets banged up. And I'll argue this, Malik Willis, I know I've only got six games, but there's about seven teams in this league.

Not everybody always says, well, you know what, next year is the good quarterbacks. Well, okay, that's great. But is everybody in your building, capable of winning four games and not getting fired.

Some of this stuff comes down to desperation. I mean, Kevin Stefansky's two-time coach of the year. They draft Shadour Sanders and Dylan. He's got a controversy on his hand. Deshaun Watson doesn't work. And all of a sudden you look up and two-time coach of the year gets run in Cleveland. John Harbaugh thought he was safe. So, you know, it's really easy to say, well, Malik hasn't done it.

Folks, NFL owners now on a fairly regular basis, fire after a year. David Cully and Houston. That is now because they're all billionaires. They're more impulsive. The more money they have. The caps going up. There's a lot of money to spend.

I think Malik Willis is going to get paid. Okay. Colin, so we started with Kavon Thibodeau. I did not put this together. So 2022, the Giants had two picks in the top seven, the New York Giants. They got Kvon Tibado at five, Evan Neal at seven. Neil was a bust. Major bust.

Tibino, they're moving off of. Hmm, do you want to guess who the GM was who drafted both those guys? Top 10? Take it wild guess. Joe Shane? So Harbaugh comes out and is now looking to move off Joe Shane guys instantly. Dude, there's a lot of house cleaning going on with the New York Giants. Basically, Shane has been kneecapped.

He can't do anything. You can't draft. You lose Sequin. You pay Daniel Jones. It's over for Shane in New York. So the cap is 301. officially, 301 million. That's $22 million over last year.

So that's a couple of good players. Malik Willis is going to get $30 million somewhere. I don't know. We'll see. 30 mil. Wow. Justin Fields didn't even get that. 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. First people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's, Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an 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. 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 break. of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments set to find Roland Garris.

Jen she's an outsider to win the French frame. And she likes Clay. Listen, Leonard Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now and I actually can win on any surface. 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.