The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 2 - Where Colin was right and wrong, the NFL Draft

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

He shares this week’s edition of Where Colin Was Right, Where Colin Was Wrong: Why he was right about the Celtics but wrong about the Eagles He talks to Matt Hasselbeck about the top prospects in the NFL DraftSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It'll be the most expensive baseball series ever. The Dodgers and the Mets play in a series. It is over a billion dollars of payroll in the series. And as we've often said, money does not buy wins. The Mets are two games under 500, and the Dodgers are on fire. And what's interesting, we're reading a great story on it here during the break. What's interesting about it is the Dodgers could spend more. If you look at Otani and how his, the revenue that Shohei Otani has created for the Dodgers,

and it took a couple of years to pay off, but anybody could have signed it. Because he generate, now you could argue the Dodgers have done a better job of marketing him, but he generates, Otoni generates so much money, but a small market team could have bought him, promoted him, marketed him, and if they were reasonably viable, you would have made your money, money back. So the Otani gamble has been unbelievable. Colin right, Colin wrong, as we often do in a Monday. Here we go. Where Colin was right. I've said it before in sports. Parity is overrated. Rory, Tiger, Phil, Kepka, the numbers are going to prove it. Rory McElroy helps the masters.

Five of the world's top six golfers finished at least tied for third or in the top three. It was a magical event. if you take Rory out of that. And it would have been Cam Young and Scotty Schaeffler. You know it and I know it. It wouldn't have felt close to the same and the number wouldn't have been the same. Where Colin was wrong. I kind of figured the Doc Rivers thing would be fine.

He's good inside the room if he's not a great schematic coach. But he's older. He'd manage egos. Kind of a Joe Torrey feel to him of the Yankees. It did not work out. It got worse. Two of the three seasons, losing record. didn't win a playoff series.

So it probably couldn't have gotten worse for Doc Rivers in Milwaukee. I was wrong on that. Where Colin was right. But I said the Celtics culture, coaching, Brad Stevens, they're still going to be really good this year. Well, they finish with the number two seed despite the Tatum injury. And remember, they moved off four of their top nine players. Jalen Brown had a took over as he's prone to do,

really talented, really aggressive, between Brad Stevens, Missoula, the culture, the intelligence in the building. How many other teams could lose four of their nine top players and Jason Tatum for a majority of the season and still be favored to win the East? Where Colin was wrong. I keep waiting for the Eagles to trade A.J. Brown instead, they added another receiver, Don Tavian Wicks of Green Bay, who's a big target, has kind of a case of the drops, but he's super talented. I'm not sure what it means for A.J. Brown.

But the Packers have a lot of receivers. They went first round last year to get another, and Wix became expendable. It's this portend of things to come, perhaps, but another skill guy for Jalen Hertz to maneuver with. Where Colin was right? Billy Donovan, the Bulls cleaned house. They kept the one guy who I've been a fan of for years. Listen, they've been poorly run. They've never really had a plan.

It's kind of a make it up as you go, right? roster that it's unbalanced, not enough size, but the Bulls Clean House and Jerry Reinsdorf and Michael Reinsdorf came out and said, listen, Billy Donovan needs to okay the GM. He's a Hall of Fame coach. If the new GM doesn't like him, we're not hiring him. Where Colin was wrong. My surprise team in the NBA this year was going to be the Dallas Mavericks, and then Anthony Davis immediately got hurt, and Kyrie Irving never came back. Cooper Flagg was remarkable. but they're terrible. A much worse record than last season.

Listen, ever since they've Mark Cuban sold it, it's just felt like an unsettled franchise that can't quite get their feet or their bearings. I thought they were with Cooper Flag and AD and maybe Kyrie Irving comes back late. It would be an offensive showcase and instead it was a hazmat spill. Where Colin was right?

The NIL and the transfer portal, they're not perfect, but boy, they've made college basketball better. 18 and a half million viewers, Michigan, Yukon, for men's hoop, biggest audience in seven years. The transfer portal lets really good programs solve issues immediately, and the NIL means more players from Europe are coming over and more really good players are staying. So the quality of college basketball is better because there are rosters in college. basketball are much older, and it's working. It's not perfect, but it's working. Where Colin was right? I never bought into this. Oh, Travis Hunter for the Jags. He can be corner, he can be a wide receiver. Not in today's football. There's too much good coaching. Who

wants a part-time receiver? The Jags announced last week, he's going to be a full-time corner. Listen, it's hard to find corners. It's easy to find wide receivers. So this is probably the right move. The kid is super talented, but I don't really buy into the two-way thing in football. It works for Otani. He can pitch and he can hit. But in football, how many quarterbacks and offensive coordinators want a part-time star-wide receiver? It never felt right for me where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. And with that, 18 years in the NFL, Matt Hasselbeck is now joining us.

We're a little more than a week away from the draft. So let's talk this. Kirk Cousins get signed by the Raiders. I think he's going to, I think Mendoza's much better than people think. I think he's going to beat out Kirk Cousins. Kirk's wants to play, but I also think he's a good teammate.

He's a quality guy. Would you be surprised if Mendoza just flat out, came out and just beat Kirk Cousin soundly in preseason? Yeah, I'd be shocked by that. I'd be completely shocked. You know, I think this is a copycat league. And I think people look at how. the Patriots handled Drake May.

I mean, Drake May didn't start until October of his rookie year. Jacoby Brissette was the starting quarterback in the offseason and training camp to start the regular season. And they gave Drake May the ability to kind of sit back and learn. Now, there were other quarterbacks in his draft class that, you know, had a head start. And everyone's like, oh, maybe he's better. Maybe he's better. And then just if you look in the two-year window, Drake May takes his team to the Super Bowl.

And he's one of the best quarterbacks in the league. would have been the MVP if it wasn't for Matthew Stafford. So I think that's the model. And you've got Kirk Cousins, who knows this Clint Kubiak offense, just as well as anybody, and he's going to go in there and kind of more is caught than taught. And so I think just the opportunity for Fernando knows to sit back and watch the way that Kirk Cousins leads this team

and watches the way that a veteran handles everything, top to bottom, 24-7 days a week. I think that's the play. It's interesting. I was reading a breakdown. It was a long read, but it was interesting about Mendoza, under pressure, rolling out. And one of the first things going back and looking at his college film that the analyst said is he may throw out patterns better than any college quarterback ever. It's just absolutely automatic.

What is the value of- Can I add about that, though? My biggest concern for him might be something that people aren't talking about. They're not concerned of, but I'm concerned. I played with a lot of quarterbacks that were amazing in college, but they played in shotgun all the time, and they never played under center. I played with one guy out of Georgia.

He's the winningest college quarterback in NCAA history when he came to us. It's a big adjustment to go from shotgun all the time to under center. And Clint Kubiak wants to be under center as much as anybody. That's the thing that I think Fernando is going to have to work on the most. There's an argument that college football, because of the NIL, you're playing with older players, the offenses are a little bit more sophisticated now than several years ago because you have several 23 and 24 year olds, not as many 19 and 20 year olds. Whereas the NBA is getting younger, college basketball is getting older, college football is getting older. Guys are just, you know, European guys, guys are staying in.

Does that matter that Mendoza over the last two years in the NIL era? I mean, they're bringing in old, these are, Mindiana was an old, old, maybe the oldest college roster ever. Does it matter? I think it's a great thing. I mean, that starts matter. How many games you started matters. I think another thing that people aren't really talking about when it comes to these quarterbacks, maybe three or four years ago, they were signaling in plays from the

sidelines. Yeah. And then, you know, maybe two years ago, they went for this coach to quarterback communication system where the green dot, you know, you call the plays in. So now all of a sudden, instead of your, you know, hand signals just being like, hey, Garnet, Red, five, that's your play call. Now you're jumping into this like John Gruden sounding like offense, where it's, hey, we got red, left, swap, tight, close, Z, rights,

print, right, G, U.U, corner, halfback, flat. I'm one already break. And so these quarterbacks are coming really from a more NFL style of hearing it come into their helmet, regurgitating it in the huddle, and then doing what you do at the line of scrimmage, the way we saw, you know, guys like Philip Rivers do this year, where he just owned it at the line of scrimmage.

And that's the part of the game that, again, you don't test it at the combine necessarily. You test it on the chalkboard or these days on the whiteboard, on the grease board. But it is different from what it's been, say, four years ago. So there's an interesting Ben Johnson was quoted. People have talked about that Caleb Williams, as great as he was, especially late in games, completed about 58.5% of his throws. I've always felt the number that I need you to be at, but I'll give you a little bit of leeway

if you're like Cam Newton talented or Caleb is like 61.5, 62. And I think there are a lot of people that believe going from 58 to 63, it's not that many completions. But I also think that Caleb is so unique and so powerful, so much turbo, how do you bake in easy completions? Is it just as easy as Ben Johnson coaching more underneath routes? Because games dictate routes and play calls. you hear that we got to get him, you know, I mean, Ben said, we got to get him closer to 70 percent. And I'm like, that's not who Caleb Williams is. What would be a realistic number for his style, for his skill level in Ben's offense? Well, it's hard for me to give you a number

because it's not about the number. It's about accuracy. And so like when you give me, like, you could have a high number. I'll just tell you what it's like in a quarterback room, okay? You could have a complete completion and get a plus or a minus on your grade sheet in the quarterback room. And there's something called a runner's ball. And so it could be a completion, but if it wasn't a runner's ball, you get a minus. It's a negative. And what is a runner's ball?

A runner's ball is, this is how you evaluate it. If a wide receiver is running a route and he has to change his gate at all, change his running gate, that's a minus. Now there are some situations where it's a back shoulder throw and you want to put it on the eight, not the four and all that kind of stuff. But typically, it's about being a runner's ball. So this idea of a 65% is this and 70% is that. You know, I think that can be misleading.

Now, I will say this about Caleb. He improved in all the areas that I really felt like he needed to improve in. Leadership, body language, big time throws, play action was a huge part of what he did last year that was so good. Clutch, like all that stuff, the hard stuff he did well. The accuracy, I would think that for all NFL quarter, You can hit the open guy. You can give him runners balls more than he did last year.

Receivers will like it. Ben Johnson will like it. And that's, I think, what this team needs to take it to the next level. And certainly, in Caleb's, you know, he's the guy with the solution. He's got the opportunity to be the change. So I saw a reporter at ESPN, Jeremy Fowler, had a 12-source story on Jalen Hertz. And the overriding theme was, you know, he's patting the ball. He's not doing what the coaches wanted.

He's reluctant to change. And part of me thinks, well, you know, he's 5, 11 and a half, six feet tall. There are things he may not see. You know, you always hear that you got to coach what's available. You know, Nick, certain coaches say coach the player the way you want him to be, not necessarily what he is. You tell me with Jalen Hertz, when you see a story and people are like, it's hard to coach, reticent to change, kind of does his own things.

He'll pat the ball. He drives the coaches. crazy is what Jalen Hertz is really saying is guys I'm not comfortable with what you want me to be I'm comfortable with what I am well I think Jalen Hertz is a really good quarterback but the timing of that story that came out right after league meetings is when everybody's together everybody's you know got cocktail hour together and so the stories I mean it's what people are saying and so I would say for Jalen Hertz, obviously he's a great quarterback, but there is some talk about questioning, I don't know, coachability, humility. And I think coachability and humility are two things that

play really well in the locker room. Jalen Hertz is a well-respected guy in the locker room. But ultimately, excellence on the field is what people are going to respect the most, coaches and players. And so I think that this has been a little bit of an attack on him. And if I'm him and I want to unite the locker room, I just give off that vibe of like, hey, I know I've accomplished so much in my career, but I'm still going to take kind of a more coachable approach. And then for wide receivers, you know, when you have disgruntled wide receivers year after year after year, you know, it's not great for a locker room. So I don't know. I'm a believer in the quarterback as a whole, but I do believe that when you have the wide receiver group feeling like

they're not a part of it and they've got to beg for success. It's a bad place to be as an offense. So you have gone to the combine for years and, you know, between talking to players and financial literacy, one of the things I said about a month ago that I like about NIL is that it gives you a little money in college now. You don't go from struggling to buy a pizza to here's $9 million. Guys now have bank accounts and, you know, they're with them. drawn 15 grand for the weekend to go buy stuff and it's like that's kind of semi pro-ish it's it's it's like 30% of the NFL but i don't think we're going to have as many stories about financial calamity which like became documentaries for about 15 years so when you go now to the combine or

you talk to rookies what are the conversations like today compared to seven years ago you nailed it Colin it's completely different and the financial calamities are just happening at a younger age that's why we don't hear about them but no i remember i mean the year that drake may and bow knicks and sam hartman and all those guys came out i'm sitting over there doing my normal spiel about estimated tax payments and your accountants and agents and all this stuff and they're looking at me like i'm crazy they're like bro we've been doing this for like four years now like they basically sounded like they had agents in high school i'm saying sam hartman left away for us to go to Notre Dame for a million dollars, he's taking a pay cut to go to the Washington commanders. I mean, it's very different. It's very different. But I would say there is maturity that's come from it. These guys, when they come into the NFL, they leave college, they're very much focused on the football because they've kind of gone over that first hurdle of being focused on the money and all the problems that kind of, you know, more money, more problems is not just a line. It's a little bit true. So these guys come in with, I think, more of a laser focus on what

needs to be happening on the football field. But yeah, I felt like an idiot the first time that I said that for sure. That's just the reality of where we are. I mean, high school kids that I have coached have agents right now. It's, you know, welcome to 2026. High school kids you currently coach? Yeah. Yeah, how about it?

Oh, look. You know, you know, that's why it's funny, man. I don't get too worked up. You know, when the Michigan football with Harbaugh had that. that iPhone story about Connor Stallions. And I'm like, it's hard for me to get worked up on scouting on an iPhone when you can now buy high school players, which five years ago was the death penalty for college sports. That was the worst thing you could do. That's totally legal.

And now I'm supposed to get worked up over an iPhone watching Michigan opponents. I'm like, guys, I'm not, it's just, I know it's not ideal pre-scouting like that. but are you i i think it was a little more than that but i i hear what you're saying now now are you pro n i'll listen i'm pro all of it i'm pro all of it but i just think we've seen a lack of leadership from the ntdb a yeah that's why we're in the situation that we're in they just sat back and sat on their hands and now it's just a it's it's changed forever you know the tooth base is out of the tube so um you know i'm i'm pro player i'm for the kids uh i just think it's also a two-way street here too everyone goes into the portal oh i can't believe you're going into the portal well guess what

when there's a new head coach coming in a lot of times these kids are told like hey you don't have a home here you have to go get go get in the portal and so i just think that uh the voice that we're not hearing from is the student athlete and uh it's it's just very very different than it was when i went to college um that that's that's for sure man man man hasselbeck good seeing you my man see a call um yeah yeah j mac you're a fan of n i l and portal stuff, aren't you? Am I a fan? Of course. I love NIL. I think it's great. Honestly, this transfer portal for college basketball, I've been watching that more closely than the NBA off season because there's more movement, more money happening, a lot of big swings. I love this stuff. I don't see why people don't like it. What's the argument against it,

well, the argument against it is we always had college sports and then there was a line and that it was pro sports and people are like, if you're going to pay them, I'll just watch the NFL. So there's, you know, traditionalists and purists. I understand that. Don't need to mock them. There's three or four things I really like. The downside is when you have a dramatic change in any business, leadership is really crucial. Well, we don't trust the NCAA.

They don't know what they're doing, right? So what happens is if there have been, you know, I said this years ago, the college football was an $8 billion a year business with no CEO, and that's what killed boxing and why UFC, emerged is Dana White and the Fertita family. It's like you had a centralized form of leadership and boxing's like, you know, every boxing promoter, you know, doing it for themselves. And that's the problem with college sports now that it feels, and that's why we don't

have a commissioner of college football because the SEC'd want their guy and the Big Ten would want their guy. And what you should do is just go hire a massive like television executive who's tired of the TV world and says, I want to run. college football. But the one thing that you can't deny, if you watch the college football playoff, I mean, Ohio State's getting Chip Kelly and Matt Patricia. Those are NFL coaches. And Ohio states like, well, we have more NFL concepts because your locker rooms older. And if you watch Michigan playing Yukon, you're talking about, I mean, PJ Carlissimo came on last

week. He goes, it used to be he would go do a college game and he would show up the day before and watch practice. And he goes, you could just tell from the size of the athletes, it was college basketball. He goes, you go now to a UCon or a Michigan or an Illinois game, and it's NBA. It's 7-3, 6-11, 6-9, multiple athletes. So it's just bigger and stronger. We had a college basketball era where Virginia's scoring 44 points in winning. That's not entertaining. I mean, that just doesn't do it for me. By the way, don't you have the ratings to back it up? Wasn't this one of the most watch college football seasons ever?

And the college basketball season was incredible. Like, I don't want to believe what people are saying on social media because that's kind of useless. But the actual proof is in the, oh, people are watching the sporting events on television, which people don't do anymore, right? Yeah, you couldn't watch the tournament. The quality of basketball in the tournament was just bigger, stronger, older athletes. It's like I have my issues with the NBA. But the talent pool today is greater than it's ever.

been. Everybody can handle the ball. Everybody can shoot. I think the NBA's got some systemic issues, but the quality of the athletes, the length, the size, the ball handling, the shooting, it's out of this world. College sports is older, therefore stronger, bigger, smarter, and it just, it looks a little, sometimes college football, you go back to the 60s 70s, and it was wing T, and, you know, Nebraska's winning a championship with one wide receiver out wide, they never throw to. Again, that just doesn't, to me is not progressive smart football. And I think college sports feels more like pro sports today. One more herd?

The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Hey, it's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from the odd couple on Fox Sports Radio. And in addition to hearing us live weeknights from 7 to 10 p.m. Eastern on Fox Sports Radio, we are excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show. That's right. You can now watch the Odd Couple live on YouTube every day. All you got to do, search

Odd Couple FSR on YouTube again. YouTube. Just search Odd Couple FSSR. Check us out on YouTube and subscribe. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special.

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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 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.

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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 athletes 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

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Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Genshin win. 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. Mets Dodgers start tonight. God, I'm just just the matchup of baseball's biggest payrolls ever. It's just fascinating to see the revenue that the Dodgers create. It's just it's they own their own local TV. So what happens in Major League Baseball is team share the national television revenue.

They don't share their local revenue. And just to give you an idea that the Dodgers local TV revenue just shows you how popular they are and how big Los Angeles is as a market is $330 million a year. Even good teams like the Brewers are at $50 million in local TV revenue. And that's coming down. So, yeah, it's an advantage. Listen, in college sports, you have historical and geographical advantages. I mean, it helps to be a Georgia football program is a lot easier than, you know, Montana State.

I mean, there's advantages all through sports. I mean, go look at where the Winter Olympics are dominated with countries that have mountain ranges. Like, you know, there are advantages, but it's really not for the Dodgers. It's, think about this, the Dodgers. I'll get into it later. It's, they could spend more is the point of this article. They're actually spending it wisely.

They could spend much more. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herdline News. Now you got my beak wet. I want to hear, but they could spend more, huh? Yeah.

All right, let's start with the NBA, Colin. Let's go with the Golden State Warriors. You know Steph Curry, my favorite player in NBA history. Yes, that's a fact. It's been a rough season for it. They came in with high expectations. Now they're settling for the play-in where they'll face the paper clips and Kauai Leonard. Here's Curry talking about how excited he is for the play-end,

but it's not as exciting as it was at the beginning of the game. this season. This is such a unique year just because of the way it's gone. It's not like underperformed. You've just been hit with so many injuries that your expectation had to shift because of, you know, availability. So I'm trying to get as many guys back to play in time to make, you know, that this playing game on Wednesday worth it.

So I'm excited to have another game for sure. Listen, it's predictable. Old roster. I mean, this is, it's, I'm actually, I mean, it's the downside to having an iconic beloved local player. Everything centers around Steph Curry. And I love him, but they're a mile from Oklahoma City. They're a mile from San Antonio.

How different is this than the Yannis situation? Other than Yonis is like six, six-ish years younger than Curry. because the bucks were going nowhere, and all anybody's been screaming is let Yannis get out. He got a title. Again, I love Curry. I love that run with the Warriors. We've got a marquee guy now reduced to the play-in

for the fourth time in six years. The roster's going nowhere. What are we doing? Why is Curry having to languish? Yeah, languish in Golden State when he's still one of the top 10, top 15 players in the league? Well, you have one of the smartest owners, one of the smartest coaches,

one of the smartest superstars. But again, fall in like. with your sports stars, fall in love with your family, fall in like with sports. They've fallen in love with Curry. And so, I mean, this is what you get. I mean, go look at the... They ask you for input, Colin.

Do you ride this out? Let's just, well, ceremonies for Curry the next three years until it's over. Or do you just say, Steph, do you want to still be here? Or do you want to go to a contender? Because we're up for starting over. I mean, to me, Con Cinnipple, Steph Curry, Le Mello, ball. He can move close to his family in golf.

I just, I mean, people are outraged. I can't believe you'd consider trading Steph Curry. You really like this basketball? Do you think Steph's getting younger next year? I mean, I would just start over. And I also believe because of NIL is that draft picks matter more now. I mean, go look at last year's draft and this year's draft. This year we have three or four potentially transformational players.

I mean, AJ DeMontza goes to the jazz in Utah. like, oh, Utah is going to be really, really good. I just, to me, I just, the sentimentality of sports, love sports when it's happening. Don't fall in love with it. Players age, like move on. 100% with you. All right, let's go to the NFL. Let's move on to Fernando Mendoza.

And interesting setup here in Vegas. So he's obviously going to be competing with Kirk Cousins for the starting job. But Rich Gannon, a former raider, has an interesting theory on who. who should get reps this spring? Here we go. I would imagine that Mendoza is going to get just about all the reps. We want to get him as many reps as possible. Why?

Because Kirk Cousins doesn't need a lot of reps in May, June, and July. He doesn't. So we want to get the young rookie up to speed, and we want to give him as many reps as possible. And then at that point, when we get into the preseason, we can decide, okay, this kid's ready to play. or you know what maybe he's not ready to play week one let's go with the veteran and let's find a way to eventually work him into the lineup yeah i mean for the first time in 20 years i

care about the raiders that's the power i mean honestly that's the power i mean when when gruden got there they were selling how this was this was going to be you know this was going to be the future and then you see stories it unraveled quickly and i've been a lot of stories recently about that. Athletic had a great one here a couple of weeks ago. Pretty telling. This is the first time I've actually thought of the Raiders and thought

hopefully. They've got some new people in the ownership group. Brady's obviously involved in it. I think this kid's got the right sauce. I think the Raiders are going to be really interesting. And also if you start looking at the draft, this general manager appears

to, like, I always believe that if sports isn't that It's not easy, but it's not that hard. I can watch this GM for the Raiders over the last year, and it's like he's doing thoughtful, smart things that I think will work out. Like Mayock and Gruden, you had a power struggle, and Gruden wanted to say in the first couple rounds, but reportedly got bored with the draft,

and that's where Mike Mayock had success in the fourth, fifth, you know, Max Crosby, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh rounds. I just, I don't know, between this GM, Clint Kubiak and this quarterback and some new ownership eyes and ears. I think the Raiders are going forward. May have the right stuff. It's interesting. I hadn't heard anybody put it in perspective like that the first time they were interesting in 20 years.

And I just in my head quickly was going back. What was interesting about the Raiders the last 15 years? Other than the move? Like, go look at their draft history. Just littered with busts. The Gruden hiring was fascinating. Yes. But he'd become a television star.

And the NFL's all about Mnors. Nusha and the grind in details. When I text people, I know people that are no longer general managers in the NFL and they've moved on and they're still following it or consulting. And you know, you got to be careful about hiring TV people to do football jobs. It's hard. You get one month off a year. It's an 11 month grind. Yeah. All right. Let's go to the final story, Colin. Because I'm back from vacation, they wanted to me to lob you a softball here. And it's about our favorite quarterback debate, Brock Purdy. So Kyle Eusecheck, the legendary

tough guy fullback from the Niners, was asked about what it's going to take to give Brock Purdy respect. Colin, you're going to love this answer. Here we go. I don't know what it is, what it's going to take for this guy to finally get the respect that I think he truly

deserves. Because I mean, season in, season out, he plays tremendously. And I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's just that the fact that he's not a first round draft pick, like if that is just going to be the story for his entire career and be kind of held against him, maybe. But I love the guy, you know, as a person, as my quarterback, as a football player, like, he is the dude.

Well, I think, I think actually Brock Purdy is appropriately respected. We don't think he's Josh Allen or Justin Herbert in terms of turbo and power. We don't think he's a great athlete, but he's better than Mac Jones. I think Brock Purdy is he's had some injuries. He can get a little sloppy. I think he's appropriately respected. I think everybody, myself included, I think he's a nice

B plus quarterback. I think he deserves a ton of credit. I think he's a hard worker. I think he's grateful and humble. I think he's more athletic. I think I didn't give him the credit he deserves for athleticism. I watched him playing college a lot. And my take on him in college was a bit of a gunslinger, kind of reckless, a little small, but you put him within that system. So I think he's appropriately respected. I think if you ask, let's say you ask, forget fans

for this moment. Let's just say you ask GMs, where do you put him in the league? And I think most GMs would say, well, he got the perfect coach. Shanahan is great with quarterbacks. He's probably somewhere in that 12 to 16 space in terms of size, health, athleticism, jet fuel. power. You know, he doesn't have first round traits, but he is, he's kind of a streaky guy when he gets hot. The one thing I like about him, that you can tell a lot about a quarterback by how a coach coaches him. When Shanahan had Garoppolo, who was fine, they didn't throw the ball down the field a ton. They didn't throw it up the sideline a ton. That told you they didn't think Jimmy had a great arm. But they let, they threw it over the middle of the field. He was accurate.

But with Brock Purdy, when I watch him, Shanahan lets him go. He lets him let it rip. So that tells me that Shanahan thinks he's more talented than probably I do. So I respect Shanahan. So Shanahan, the way he coaches him, it's aggressive. They take big shots down the field. And that tells you, Shanahan's got a better eye for quarterbacks than I do. And Shanahan thinks he's really talented.

It's interesting because you're saying a lot of nice things now. I'm appropriately rated. I don't know what that means. If I said who's had the better career, Dak Prescott or Brock Purdy, what's the answer, Colin? Well, there's a lot of contextualization. I think...

Well, one had a Super Bowl winning coach in Mike McCarthy. The other has not had a Super Bowl winning coach. Well, I think Shanahan's considered a little higher grade than McCarthy. I think they're very different. I mean, it's actually a fast question. I'd probably go

DAC. I think they both have good leadership qualities. I think Brock, when he's in a groove, is more accurate throwing the ball when he gets in a groove. Dak used to be more athletic, but DAC with a lower body injuries isn't quite. There's

a lot to like about both. It's a totally fair question. I've never heard it. Pose like that. I'd probably go Dak over Purdy, and I think both are B++. us. Well, here's the thing.

If Dak were in San Fran and Brock were in Dallas and Brock was elevated because he was in Dallas, but Dak had the playoff success and going to two Super Bowls, I think it would easily be Dak Prescott. But for whatever reason, a lot of people are going to say, oh, no, it's not Brock. It can't be Brock. It's got to be Dak. But if you look at all the numbers, Brock's kind of got them. And it's not particularly close.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, I think having Shanahan as a head coach is important. Yeah. I think that's fair. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Herd Lye News. Alan Shepnuck's got a great book on Rory Macalroy. It's called Appropriately Rory. I finished it last week, and he'll be joining us next hour at this time. Chris Broussard, too, as we've talked, some Dodgers' Mets. I'm reading a fascinating article, soup to nuts, on the series and the revenue. And it is remarkable that the Dodgers actually could spend. much more. That's how

great their current revenue is within the franchise. Some thoughts on that next, 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 IHeard Radio app.

Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. 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 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, 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, 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. 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 SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife-Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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, Lennar 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, Up. I-heart women's sports. The fastest racing on earth hits the west coast as Alex Palo, Joseph

Newgarden, and the stars of Indy car take on the streets of Long Beach. The road to the Indy 500 continues Sunday at 530 Eastern only on Fox. So the Mets and the Dodgers will meet tonight in a baseball series. The Mets and Dodgers have ranked

first and second, in some order, in total payroll, four times since 2022. In 2023, the Mets ranked first, Dodgers' fourth, the only exception. So these are the two big spenders. A couple of things in this article by Jeff Passon

and others. Don't underestimate the value of Shohei Otani. For the record, Shohei Otani played for the Angels in Southern California an hour down the road with Mike Trout, and they couldn't do anything. Pre-O-Tonnie, the year before they signed Otani,

the Dodgers were fourth in competitive balance tax payroll. They got to about 260. In 2025 with Otani, it's at 417 million. So we love bets and Freddie Freeman and Max Muncie. Otani is a revenue generating outlier. The other thing is, according to this article, I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings,

but the Dodgers could spend even more if they wanted to. The Dodgers allotted about 46% of their revenue last year to their payroll. That's below the Major League average of 48%. So the Dodgers, now the Mets are spending much more. That's all Steve Cohen. But the Dodgers have built this incredible infrastructure of research and development and scouting, so they just don't miss very often. Drama for the Dodgers is Edwin Diaz, his velocity's down a little.

The former Mets is now the Dodgers closer. So again, the Mets spend a fortune and they are on a five-game losing streak and just got swept by the A's. Okay, so money doesn't guarantee, it generally guarantees you're interesting because either you have star players who are struggling or flourishing or the expectations are high. So money guarantees by and large are interesting. The Mets prove it doesn't guarantee anything beyond that. Here was Carlos Mendoza after being swept by the A's. Tough Homestown overall offensively. You come back from that road trip,

feeling good about the way you're swinging the bat. You win the first game here, and then you can just have hard time scoring from there. There'd be a few innings where it's like non-competitive at bats. Then we hit today, I thought, you know, there was a few guys that hit balls hard at people. But yeah, it's not creating enough track. traffic to do to put together a rally.

The other thing the article points out is this is where stars, I mean, when you go to Los Angeles, the tax rates 13.5%. So your money is going to get gobbled up. And players know that. But there's two or three places in the world that have perfect weather. Southern California, Southern California is one of the places. The taxes are high, but you can market and promote so well. And the other thing about the Dodgers, and I don't live in L.A. anymore. I go there. I'm going there tomorrow. One of the things I always appreciated about the Dodgers is they don't rest on their laurels. Yes, they lead Major League baseball in attendance. Their stadium's awesome. And then they just went and spent $100 million on their stadium upgrades. I'm not sure what they're doing.

I'll figure it out next time I go. But money guarantees expectations. Right? That's why money equals drama. It guarantees expectations. in baseball. It doesn't guarantee results. The Brewers don't have a ton of money. They're incredibly well run. Same with the Guardians. So the story by Jeff Passon and others, the Otani factor is unbelievable. Also, speaking of Los Angeles, Per Shams,

Luca will be back in the U.S. tomorrow, and the Lakers are going to reevaluate him. Austin Reeves will be out for a majority of the first round series. So, you know, if the Lakers could snag one of the first two games starts in Los Angeles, that, who knows?

Could Luca come back for, you know, game five and six? I think in the first round, you get these longer layoffs, if I remember. Yeah. So, I mean, what you're hoping for is Luca comes back. You reevaluate him and you can get him. And if the Lakers could win that first game, can you get to a game four or five and Luca comes back at 85%. Yeah.

Now we got some drama, Calhurt. I know you're fired up. Luca legend. By the way, I mean, I didn't know you could just go overseas and they can cure your hamstring in a heartbeat, and now you're back in action. Pretty cool. Yeah, I think that's been done before.

It hasn't been reported before. Oh, okay. Once you get on that one, scoop, I need the details. Okay. I got a back injury and he's fixed. I'll call my Euro sources. Hour of three. Alan Shepnuck, Chris Broussard. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin.

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

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

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, 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. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicalife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee. And I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.