The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 3 - Christian McCaffrey stops by The Herd

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

San Francisco All Pro RB Christian McCaffrey joined the show to talk about his unique relationship with Sam Darnold along with 2-Time Super Bowl Champ Chris LongSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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. 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 ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs' tennis podcast for no nonsense breakdowns of

the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. She can win. She's an outsider to win the French fame. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any service. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcasts on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

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

Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to 3 Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. One of the things I always look at with a veteran NFL player, has he ever been a team captain? That tells you a lot about the guy. Cam Hayward has been a team captain for the Steelers for 11 years. He's going to be a first ballot hall of famer, six-time All-Pro, 15 years, same team,

and he is joining us at the Super Bowl. You know, it's, I asked you, I said, 15 years in the league, what do you feel like when you wake up in the morning and tell the audience what your answer was? It feels like 15 years of past. You know, you have, Mike Tomlin's interesting because Emmanuel Sanders, I think it was on my show a couple weeks ago.

And he said, you can talk about the coach. He goes, Mike Tomlin changed me the guy. like what to do with my money when I came into the league I was I didn't know anything and you had a 15 year relationship with Mike now it's not all good I mean it can't be there's got to be disagreements

but tell me about Mike the guy that I don't see Mike is very approachable in voicing like anything to him he might not agree with you and he might have a different way of seeing it but he makes himself available to

discuss your problems. He's able to cut past a lot of the crap and say like, yeah, that's great but we're going to go in a different direction or this is what we have to do forward. Have to put the team first. The one thing I love about Mike was just his honesty to the game.

Understanding that there are no short cuts in our league in preparing the right one. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I've seen him on two interviews since he coached the Steelers and he's so happy and fun of and I'm like, the NFL has a way of making people, you know, I mean, you watch Belichick when he left New England, I watched them on ESPN, he's cracking jokes, he's having a good time. There is an argument, and I said this.

I can think Mike's a Hall of Famer, but I do think coaches have a lifespan in a room. Is there not an argument like, listen, when you spend that much time with one team, maybe it was better for Mike to take a deep breath and some time off. Is that fair? Well, it's definitely fair. I think the first part of what you said, he's definitely got the glow of going into an offseason, not having the pressure in the weight of having a team to prepare for.

But he also gets to, you know, spend some time with his family. I think I was just texting one this morning. I was talking about his daughter killing it at Georgia in gymnastics. But as much as there can't be a lot. shelf life. I don't think we provide coaches enough time to actually find out if they were a good coach or not. There's a lot of hit or miss. And, you know, after a year or two, it's, hey, we got to bounce you because we really want to try out something new. What Mike has been able to accomplish, I know he only has one Super Bowl, but it's a lot more than what any other coach can say.

And he's the cream of the crop. I think every year, you're always going to wonder, is Mike Tomlin coming out of retirement? Because he was just that good of a coach. So Seattle, New England, rare position. You guys really beat up Drake May. You had multiple sacks. He really struggled. Probably his worst game. Seattle came out in the second half and took it to you.

So there's a lot of similarities between the two. I think the weakness of both the Seahawks Patriots, probably the O line is not great. And I do think both are young, good mobile quarterbacks, defensive coaches. There's talent all over the field, especially in the defensive side. Let's first talk about Seattle. When you guys played them, it was kind of an eye-opening result. We all kind of went, oh, wait a minute. This darn old thing may work.

When that game was over, what was your interpretation of Seattle? I thought they played through emotions. They can actually bounce back from situations that were a little bit kind of strophic in our game early. And then really capitalized on us in the second ass. I know we had a big turnover at half in our game, but they were able to keep drives alive. Even when I think we had a big play, I think I tipped the ball and then Nick Herbert picked it off,

they were able to bounce back from that. And their defense is really good. You got Leonard Williams, you got Byron Young up front. And if they have a good game, usually they're winning the game. Now, New England was different. They had a lot of new faces, free agents, five rookies playing. and to be honest with you, it unraveled. It felt like they got a little...

I mean, that's what my interpretation watching it was, Cam. You got into their head, you kind of intimidated them. You made Drake May play faster than he was comfortable playing. So I imagine you came out of that game, and are you surprised today they're in the Super Bowl? I think it's indicative that you talk about how they started and then where they finished, because when they first got into the league this year,

there were a lot of questions about Drake May and you just watch their team battle back and become just a better unit on both sides of the ball. You've got Milton Williams and you've got Christian Barmore who dealt with a lot of injuries last year. But then this year just a different player and I think

having those two stalwart from the D-line are great, but Drake May is playing on another level. When we played them the first time, our big thing was we got to get turnovers from Drake May and their running backs. And they really stabilize that in having Dravian as a running back and Drake me throwing the ball downfield.

Yeah. So Mike McCarthy is the new head coach. I had said on the air, I think he's the offensive Mike Tomlin and immediately he's already made upgrades to the staff, or at least upgrades in his opinion to the staff. And I've criticized Pittsburgh through the years, I've said,

listen, the rules now favor offense, that you've got to be able to consistently run the ball. That's the reality of this league. And Pittsburgh for seven years has struggled to identify a consistent run game. That's not a criticism. That's data.

I do think Mike makes you a little more current offensively. What are your expectations? I think you look at what our offense was this year, and you say you have a one-two punch in the running game between Kenneth Gamewell and Jayle Warren. They've done a really good job, and I thought it was a step up from last year. I look for that offense to just keep growing. You look for Jalen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell to have more touches. And you look for D.K. Metcats to have a lot more in his route tree, a lot more favorable matchups where he's not just stuck on a number one corner.

Let's mix it around. Let's get him the ball in space. Because when he has the ball in space, if you look at that Ireland game where they have the clip of Aaron throwing D.K. the ball, one of the prettiest balls you ever see. And him taking it 80 yards, that's what you want D.K. do it. Were you, um, Aaron's an American iconic star. Pittsburgh is a hardworking, no-nonsense town. He appeared to really enjoy Pittsburgh. Like from the outside, I'm like, oh, Aaron fits here, fine.

I didn't know if you would. Take me through the year of Aaron in Pittsburgh and just the camaraderie, the locker room, the trips. How was it for you? The camaraderie, the accountability, um, and just the playmaking. he's special and I don't think you get enough he gets enough credit as a teammate the way he prepares the way the group kind of rallies around him we have a lot more fun with him that I can't talk about on air but he is a great guy for the locker room he's also a big nickelback fan shout out Aaron no I'm just kidding he hates nickelback but we but you know throughout the year I

thought he was always locked in, giving us the best chance to go forward, and that's what you want from your quarterback. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Stigatz here, I have a podcast empire. It continues to grow, and I have brought it here to IHart.

I'm also doing a live radio show from 3 to 5 p.m. Eastern, because my wife wanted to kick me out of the house. It's called Stugats and Company Live, which is available in podcast form right when the show finishes every single day. Some of the biggest names in sports. A lot of phone calls. I love you guys' guys' not taking themselves too seriously.

A lot of interaction. Guys not taking themselves too seriously. Those are just some of the things that you can expect from Stugats and Company and Company Live. So listen to Stugats and Company Live and our original podcast, please subscribe, rate and review. Stu Gautzen Company and God bless football. Taylor's livelihood depends on it.

Do it today. And you can check all of those out on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast. could call in and say, hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 win. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface.

Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your courtside 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey.

I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking. criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me?

Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts. You could call it a career and you're a Hall of Famer. What drives you at this point? One, I think, is trying to win a Super Bowl, having the opportunity to compete.

You know, that's why you play this game. Two, I think it's just installing my legacy further. I feel like I still have more work to do on the field, off the field. and then, you know, continue to teach the younger guys, continue to learn from them, and continue to just keep growing. You are working with the American Cancer Society. You've always been a charitable guy. Tell me about it.

Yeah, I had a chance to, you know, come on and be a co-captain again with the American Cancer Society. You know, cancer is pretty prevalent in my family with my dad, suffering from a brain tumor and I've just been very close because I've had grandparents or you know aunts and uncles that have done with breast cancer as well and so being able to spearhead and you know find other ways where we get other people to donate and you know find a good charge to be able to save a lot of people's lives and help a lot of people along the way. Cam you're a credit to the game and I appreciate you stopping by the herd. Thank you for having me. You bet. A great, great player. I mean when you

you're a captain 11 times in your career, that really speaks volumes of you as a guy. J. Mack with the news. No, no. This is the Heard Line News. All right, let's continue Super Bowl coverage talking about Mike McDonald served under John Harbaugh in Baltimore. And McDonald talked about how Harbaugh had an impact on him as a head coach. I don't think it's possible to overstate his influence on me. I love John Arbaugh.

He's one of my biggest mentors. All those principles that are part of his program that he's about as a person resonated with me. Those are a lot of the foundational principles that we brought to Seattle. And he's also a great friend. He's got great family.

So I can't say how much I love him. Boy, McDonald has been a hit, hasn't he? Yeah. I mean, he took that defense from Pete, moved it up about 10 spots. and then he moved it up to number one or two in the league. And when you get a really good defensive coach, like obviously,

Mike McDaniel goes to Miami and they got all sorts of motion and different sets, you can see it. Like defensively, it's harder to see. Oh, that coach has principles. But when you watch how hard Seattle plays, that's the first thing I look at. They play hard. The second thing is they don't give up cheap touchdowns.

That was always the great strength of Belichick. To score on New England, you had to drive the ball. They didn't give up freebies. They didn't miss assignments. Seattle doesn't miss a lot of assignments. Excellent team. He's had a great two-year run. Look on the screen there.

24 wins over the last two seasons, only behind McDermott and Siriani. That's pretty impressive for McDonald. I am curious, it's tough to ask this, Colin. Do you think there's a lot of wiggle room here for them to keep going and improve and be at 12 to 13, 14, 14 with team? Remember, they lose their own. O.C. Kubiak, he's going to go coach Ramirez. No, I think where they're at, you know,

Plateau gets kind of a bad rep. I think Seattle is going to be a double-digit win team if John Snyder, Mike McDonald, and Sam Donald are together. I think they're a double, but you and I know, San Francisco and the Rams

are a handful. So Donald gets banged up and misses a month. So a lot of it comes down to is the quarterback, Charles Cross, the left tackle. Gray Zabel, is the left side of the offensive line held. So they are really deep. They have no real holes. Their line gets a bad rap. The left side of it's pretty good to me. So I don't know. I look at them. That's the thing I feel like with Minnesota firing their GM. It's not just that Sam was good this

year. You can see the runway for Seattle and you're like, oh, this is going to be a topic for two, three years. Now, we don't know beyond that, but Donald's got two more years left on his deal, and the cap hit remains incredibly Seahawk friendly. And John Snyder again. But what's interesting, Jason, now you're drafting at the end of rounds.

That's a hard, go ask Kansas City and Buffalo. It gets real lean. A year ago, though, we were saying Eagles, oh my gosh, best roster in the league. They won with defense. We didn't like their coach, though. Well, that's the thing.

We'll see who they replaced Kubiak with offensively after the Super Bowl. That'll be interesting, because Darnold has had a pretty damn good year. And that's a good job now. Yes. That's a really good job. All right, let's move on to the NBA, Colin.

Trade deadline is Thursday at 3 o'clock. How about this? Reports indicate that the clippers and cavaliers are working toward a deal centering around James Hardin and Darius Garland. Now, I wish you could channel the energy you had when I asked you about James Hardin off air. I'd love to see him go to Cleveland. Yeah, so he's 36 years old.

Garland is only 26. On the surface, it feels like a weird swap. Cleveland clearly is in the luxury tax, and they're not like a top three team in the East, so they don't really want to pay it, so I think they're looking to lessen the tax burden. But let's be real. James Harden is a Hall of Famer,

one of the great scores. Not a winning player. Everybody kept getting, I mean, Darry just kept giving him guys and different coaches and different teammates. Well, he ran into the superstar Warriors with Duran and Curry. They're not beating them. They gave him Westbrook in Houston,

and they gave him Chris Paul. And they gave him, I mean, this guy, got more great teammates and solid coaches and everybody else is to blame. So what do you say? You're not Hardin? No, I mean, he'll make the Hall of Fame, but there's a lot of guys in the hall that aren't winning players. This guy led the league in scoring multiple years. How about what are you doing the defense event? He was basically Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan got Phil Collins. No, he was. Phil Jackson. Michael Jordan was about winning. Michael Jordan was not early. Not early. Well, he was a great defensive player.

He was. Hardin does not play much defense. James Hardin is known. for the step back and nightclubs. Am I wrong? Cold-blooded. Am I wrong? You're not wrong. Final story, Colin, how about this? This just happened within the last 30 minutes.

Big trade in the NBA. The Memphis Grizzlies who have been trying to move John Morant, instead move Jaron Jackson. Their other best player in a massive trade, he goes to the Utah Jazz. The Jazz, I guess, with Dwayne Wade and Company, are ready to finally try to compete. The Jazz now have Jaron Jackson.

they've got Lori Markinen who I thought they would be trying to move Kianti George a promising young player and Walker Kessler They're going to be a good defensive team They're going to be huge on the front line Yep The problem

And this is what's so tough The West is loaded So even with this Utah changes Are they a top six team in the West Well I don't know I'm hearing this for the first time But Jaron Jackson's a good player He's very good

Very good player So now Utah's four very good players Right. That feels like a playoff team. Yeah. Lakers are going to have to do something because I think the Lakers are not doing anything. Utah is better. They have more better players than the Lakers right now.

They do. Not high end, like Luka's better than everybody. Their best players occasionally like to defend, too. So this Jad team could be a problem. I don't know about this year. Memphis got three first round picks and players, including Walter Crete. Yeah, but that's because Utah doesn't need those. those picks now.

Right. And these picks are going to be probably... Utah's got four really good players. Yeah. NBA's getting it. And this is what I love. Everybody says, oh, well, these trades that they're talking about, Janus and these certain teams, it never works like this.

This trade, by the way, was not speculated. Nobody had the Utah Jazz being buyers of Jared Jackson. So remember Damien Lillard when he was getting traded? Oh, it's the Miami Heat. Maybe Toronto. Nobody had him going to the bucks. Yonis is going to a team that nobody's talking about. Now, Utah is not, first of all, Utah is a not a very good defensive team as I make fun of the Lakers.

They're not, but they will be with Jackson and Kessler on the back line. You know, they're not a factor now, but they're also young. So this gives them. Yeah, I like going forward. How many years has Jared Jackson been in the league? He's like 27, 26, 27 years old. Yeah, he's young. They've got four guys that you, you know, Lori Marketing has always talked about being traded.

He's a strong player, man. Dude, he gives you like 20. What is he average? 23 a night, 24-9? Yeah, something like that. And also, by the way, they have young Ace Bailey who's coming up through the race. Oh, he has been. He's got potential.

Oh, no, he's got talent. Yeah, yeah. Give it a couple years. I like this trade for Utah. We'll see what's going on in Memphis. Interesting. Jay Mack with the News. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. Sam Darnold, the early years. Next. 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, Nick? 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. We're starting a trend. 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.

And, 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, 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. 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. Genshin win. I mean, she went down in three to Rovachina, 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 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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told, Levan, you're ruining my life.

Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart 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 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 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 Slicelife Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. He's the founder of Quarterback Summit, a program that helps quarterbacks reach their potential. Played in the NFL for six years, the Bengals, the Jags, the Bears, the Tijuana,

Titans and love Chicago as much as I do now. His name is Jordan Palmer, quarterback consultant, and joining us. Also founded Thread Performance, Nutrition Company, that helps young athletes. So you've worked with Darnold since high school. And I remember at USC, I think it was Sark, if I recall. He was a freshman. And Sark said to me, he goes, this kid from Oceanside, he goes, he's really good. He's got to clean up some stuff.

So go back to the very early Sam Darnold days. What was obvious? What needed work back then? Well, I mean, I met him when he was 14, and honestly, he was a red-headed, freckled, kind of had buck teeth. And I was throwing with my old high school coach I was playing at the time. And I was chute, but the high school coach I was throwing with coach Carson and I when we were little. So I was joking around. I'm like, hey, that little redhead kid looks dead on Carson Palmer when he was that age.

And we were laughing about it. fast forward two years and he's in the elite 11. And that was when I was like, oh, that kid ended up being good. But really, he redshirted his first year at FC. And his second year's redshirt freshman year, he was in a quarterback competition with Max Brown, who does a great job with media right now is a great dude. And Max was a grad senior. He could transfer if he didn't win the job.

It was Clay Helton was the head coach at the time. And honestly, Sam outperformed him. But they opened up week one at Jerry. World versus Bama. So if they would have started Sam week one, Max would have transferred, and they would have had a red shirt freshman starter. I think they had a true freshman backup and I'll walk on behind him. So Sam didn't win the job. And I remember him calling me right after he got the news and being really upset and talking about, I remember that conversation about this is a rep and this is your first time having to stay ready. When you red shirt, you don't

have to stay ready. And they struggle. I think they went 0 and 3. And when they pulled the trigger on Sam, you know, he rattled off eight or nine straight, Rose Bowl MVP, B Penn State on Fort Down and kind of became Sam Darnold, the Suck for Sam campaign started on the internet. And watching him handle that and grow through that and channel the frustration or not me named the starter, but being ready, I think really laid the groundwork for a lot of these difficult situations that he's been in the last decade and how well he's handled him. when a guy now Sam has had back-to-back MVP level years if Sam called you Jordan and said hey hey can I can I come down for a couple days

what do you work on once a players at a high level? Yeah that's a great question I mean but it's it's different Sam is Sam Burrow and a lot of college guys are in this program we I operate in the space differently than anybody else in that everybody's on retainer for the year so with Sam and all my clients it's broken in to quarterly. Phase one is whenever you start until spring. Phase two is spring ball or OTAs if you're in the NFL. Phase three is your best opportunity for growth. That's coming out of spring or OTAs and going into summer and then phase four is the season. So in my office, I've got a golf

simulator that's essentially a content studio and we break down practice in games and curate things on a weekly basis. So I for the last whatever 20 weeks or how many games he's played this year. We're pulling things from games and sometimes mirroring and dropping it into his folder. So he likes to, I think, Tuesday nights watch these and essentially kind of you almost outsource your mechanics, which is becoming more normal. And so we're curating things that started on a basketball court in February. We typically go four to six weeks with him with no football. And for five years, he's been learning a new offense, which means new footwork. So we curate that in phase one. We see what sticks in phase two, which is OTAs, address things that didn't stick, build the off-season programming for

phase three, and then in season, it's about maintaining it, and every now and then introducing a new idea. And so an example of this was last year in Minnesota, he's 5 and 0 on by week, and he's sitting on my couch right here, and we ran the numbers and determined that the largest grouping of misses that he had was outbreaking routes to the right, and it was 24.6%, I believe. And so we addressed the mechanical issue, what he was doing mechanically and what he was doing from an alignment perspective that was causing those misses. A hundred percent of those misses were a little bit behind the guy. Zero of them were out in front. So we gave him things to do around his house, a golf club between his arms, moving, seeing that golf club come into your peripheral vision,

turned into tape on the left shoulder pad, building that peripheral vision. And it was all around front side alignment, drawing that shoulder closed. since then he has not missed one to his right behind the guy we're able to kind of press delete on the future 24.6% of your misses in a contract year on a Super Bowl run. So Drake May more of an East Coast guy. You didn't have the West Coast connection to him initially. I feel like not that he's a work in progress,

I think he's a better quarterback than he was in September, but like when you see him just TV, what jumps out to you that you like us? about Drake May? Well, I mean, I like everything about Drake May. I remember Josh McCown. I backed him up in Chicago, who was done playing, figuring out his next move and was telling me about this high school kid because he volunteered coached in high school and he coached

Drake May's team. And then I saw Drake May at the elite 11. So I'd been hearing about him. But I like everything. And I know that's a bad answer. Personality-wise, he's a combination of like Philip Rivers. Just good old boy, country, cool. What you see is what you get.

But he's also really funny. Nothing will change about him and his personality as he makes more money and has more success. He's one of those guys like Sam that's not going to be any different than he always was. And it's well documented as older brothers, holding him accountable and keeping him humble. But physically, he's this new era of quarterback.

I know there's been a lot of Josh Allen comparisons, and I'm not comparing them. They have different resumes. But what he did in his second year, Josh did in his third, you know, that jump. Josh was that third year. And I think there's a couple of the same ingredients. One, just to say the name of the person, Stefan Diggs, I think a guy that can create separation that has some savviness to him and as a veteran.

That was the same in Josh's year three. It was the same in Drake's year two. A coordinator who knows what the quarterback struggles with, so they don't call that a whole lot. They don't ask them to do that a whole lot. With young guys, a lot of times, that's just full field progressions. And then knowing what the strong suit is, which is concepts where, hey, if you get to number three and they're not there, already be leaving the pocket and scheming guys open. Another thing is Dawson Knox was really good before Dalton Kincaid got there for Josh

Allen having a tight end who's always going to be in the right spot at the right time and is rangy. And they have that in Hunter Henry. Yep. And a run game to compliment. And then the coordinator, you know, Brian Debel, for Josh in year three. Josh McDaniels, year two years. So I think there's a lot of commonalities. And both, the last thing I'd say is, you know, because of it's a defensive head coach in both of those situations,

we're not asking you to be the team leader as a young guy. Just to be the quarterback. Just focus on that. You don't need to be the vocal leader on the team. You can grow into that. So I see a lot of the similarities. And Drake is kind of one of those guys who's been ready for the moment. And I thought this was always a win, not an if, with Drake May.

I want to end it with this. It's important. Fernando Mendoza, I don't know what his comp is, but there was something about his gratitude and his humility. He's obviously a plus size. I watched them at Penn State, Miami game, Iowa game, in big moments. He really leaned in. You know, he wasn't overwhelmed in big moments, pressure, big throws.

I'm interested in your evaluation. You probably haven't gone a mile deep yet, but when you look at Fernando Mendoza, do you see another quarterback or do you just see a talented kid? No, I think he's a franchise guy. I think he's got a lot of success for a lead too. I'm not comparing these guys

because somebody might hear this and go like, oh, you know, whatever they think. But really Alex Smith, I don't know what Alex Smith's 40 time was, but I know he could run and he would take advantage of whatever was there in front of him, a high processor, those things. So I don't like comp, so that's not a comp, but it's in terms of the mobility, I think it is. And, you know, Alex Smith was the number one

picking the draft. But I think, you know, I've been around Fernando a lot and really the early days at Cal. And a lot of times he had to run around and make plays for that offense to be able to win. And he had a couple of big wins. I remember specifically almost beating Florida State. And he had like some bad calls, I think, and maybe a drop. but he made they lost the game at Florida State, Cal at Florida State. He lost that game but made like four or five plays at the end where like he made the play. Something else happened. But I could see a lot of this at Cal with him.

And then this is just right place, right time. One of the better stories ever in college football. But I don't know what his numbers are and all that. But the percentage of times that he made the clutch play when it was needed is really, really high. And then just if you look at his interviews, you know, the internet and the comment section has a lot of different opinions on it. But like I've told him, like I told his dad, and the thing that shit cannot change about him is this guy is so pure. He is just so who he is and so comfortable in who he is. And we've talked on and off camera about this over the years, Colin.

I mean, a lot of these guys are chameleons and they try and fit into the situation that they're in. And I never see that work. I think this guy is perfect for what they're trying to do in Vegas, and whatever role Brady plays in that, this is the perfect kind of quarterback to have kind of under the watchful eye of Tom Brady. The founder of quarterback summit, also the founder of Thread Performance and Nutrition Company that exists to help young athletes fulfill their physical and mental potential,

both on and off the field, gives us insight. Sam Darnold, I think you said, red hair, buck teeth, It worked out well for Sam Darnold. Jordan has always great seeing you. Yeah, thanks for having me. You bet. Yeah, it's interesting about the chameleum part. You know, you notice this, that Jordan went back, early days Mendoza, early days Drake May, early days Sam Darnold, that Jordan sees these guys and hears about them when they're 13, 14 years old.

and I mean I think that's that's I mean like his parents you know you're you're there to support your kid but by and large the great ones 12 13 years old 14 years old you can see it you can see it at a camp you can see it somewhere around other kids that's early 13 14 well that's when he saw sam don't know I can't believe that you know you don't expect them to continue on that track a lot of the young prodigies go sideways as we've seen throughout the years basketball football I don't think Arnold was a prodigy or Drake May, but Josh McCown's like, I got this 16-year-old kid. Before any of us had heard about it, he's like, this sophomore in high school, keep your eye on this kid. And you're right, a lot of them, most of them don't work. Yeah. A five-star kid. It's tough to handle that, man. The pressure.

Joel Embarty, kid. I mean, it's got. 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. 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.

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