The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Tom Brady, Todd Gurley, NBA, and the Patriots

Episode Date: March 20, 2020

Colin discusses the details of Tom Brady's contract with the Buccaneers, what probably went on behind the scenes between Todd Gurley and the Rams, what might happen to this NBA season, and more proof the Patriots could have kept Brady. Guests include Mike Sando, Phil Simms, Ric Bucher, and Geoff Schwartz. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

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What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. you just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

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Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on all our platforms today. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, Sirius XM Channel 83. And of course, FS1 is broadcasting our radio show on television today. That is unique. We've never done that before, but we have unique circumstances. So that's how we roll these days. to all of you who have chosen us today, again, if we can create some normalcy,

you've certainly provided that for me and in my family. I hope we can provide it for yours. I live in a state, California, where our governor has largely asked the citizens to stay at home, all of you, unless you're part of an essential workforce, like banks and grocery stores, and there are still restaurants where you can, you know, take out. but at a different time. I just talk to my family a lot about this stuff.

Take a deep breath. Cross your fingers and take care of yourselves. We do appreciate you stopping by. So I saw it this morning. Tom Brady's contracts officially out, and I just want to give you the particulars on it. Pretty interesting. Two years and $50 million.

All guaranteed. Nine million in incentives like he needs it. 4.5 million per year in incentives. It also prohibits trades. You can't trade him, Tampa. Here's the interesting part. It includes a clause that prevents the buccaneers from tagging him after two years. Means Tom wants to play beyond the contract.

Now, I know that sounds ridiculous. But here's something I pay attention to just in normal day-to-day walk-around life that maybe you do, maybe you don't. I'm not saying it's any great talent. I just watch. I look at older people and how they've aged. And you can look at somebody and tell their life choices by about 50. Did they drink too much?

Do they eat too much? Do they work out? Are they stressed too much? Have they taken care of themselves from teeth to body to shape? People, Dr. Anthony Fauci. He's the doctor standing next to our president during the press conferences. 79 years old. Looks unbelievable.

Still jogs three and a half miles a day. You can look at him and you can say, this is a guy that reads, that walks, that moves, that eats right. You can look and listen to him. This is where LeBron James. LeBron James is year 17 in the NBA, still the best player because he's taking care of his body. LeBron James, he's a better player than Janus. Yonis doesn't shoot like him, handle the ball like him, and pass like him. Those are three of the four biggest things in the sport.

Kauai Leonard, he doesn't pass like LeBron. He didn't handle the ball like LeBron. He's not the overall player of LeBron, and he doesn't play as often as LeBron. LeBron's the best player in the league. It all starts with how he's treated his body. Tom Brady is a young 43. He's the Anthony Fauci of quarterbacks.

He's the LeBron James of NBA players. He doesn't drink a beer during the season. I can assure you. Every other quarterback does. Every other quarterback does. Drew Brees may take care of himself. He lives in New Orleans. He has a cocktail.

or two, September through January. At least a couple. So Brady's unique. You walk around, you see people all the time. And I always think it's cool when you see somebody that's like 65, 68 years old. And you're like, wow. And they could be a dentist. They could be a landscaper.

But you're like, oh, they've taken care of themselves. Tom Brady is unique. A stat came out this morning that Tom Brady and James Winston, the quarterback who he's going to replace, had the exact same number of completions and attempts on. deep passes thrown into tight windows last year. They were both tied for first. And that's Brady playing with below average wide receivers.

Tom Brady is likely going to have the best completion percentage in the NFL of throwing the ball down the field and completing it. Because Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are probably, I don't even think probably. They're the best tandem at wide receiver in the league. They are. That's the best tandem in the league. He gets them now. He goes from below average.

rookie Edelman, Muhammad Sanoo, Philip Dorset, to the two best. And his body is different. LeBron's body is different. Russell Wilson spends a million and a half dollars a year on his body. LeBron spends that or more on his body. Brady does the same. It's your ultimate investment for anybody, but as a pro athlete, it's everything. And whereas Cam Newton, his athletic ability was a disproportionate.

amount of his success. As that erodes, Cam's not the same quarterback. There's no market for Cam now. He's hurt and he's not as gifted physically due to the injuries as he used to be. So there's no market for him. Tom Brady has never relied on athletic ability. What Tom Brady has done, and I'm sure he's thought about this, but if I said three or four things that Brady has relied on, pre-snap reads,

those get better with time. Experience. accuracy, work ethic, brain power, leadership, calm under pressure. None of those are affected by age. So when people talk about deep ball, his arm is not what it used to be. This morning I wrote down the six biggest arms in the NFL. Pat Mahomes, Josh Allen Buffalo, Carson Wentz, Philadelphia, Matt Stafford, Detroit, Aaron Rogers, Packers, Big Ben.

By seven, you're split. hairs. Tom's certainly in that seven and beyond range. In terms of accuracy, Drew Breeze, Kurt Cousins, Matt Ryan, Tom Brady, Aaron Rogers, Russell Wilson, Derek Carr, then you're splitting hairs. Folks, Joe Burrow is supposed to be the best prospect, I'm told, coming into the NFL draft at quarterback. The knock on him, his arm's okay. Tony Romo's the comp. Tony had a better arm. Tom Brady has never relied on athletic ability to be great. And he has taken care of himself. You'll see this all the time.

There's somebody in your social circle. Maybe they have a little better DNA. They don't drink as much. They work out every day. Sometimes you tell your wife, they're crazy. That guy works out every day. He's a little. But look at him.

He ages better. I've had people in my life I look at. They age poorly. They age better. So none of the things that would really have Tom falling on. off a cliff as a quarterback he's ever relied on. Cam Newton, it's different. I'll give you an example, the NBA.

In the NBA, shooters can last forever. Ray Allen, Dirk Novitsky, they can last forever. Derek Rose and Tracy McGrady relied on their athletic ability. They fell off a cliff as players. I mean, the minute John Waller at Derek Rose suffers an injury, they're not the same player because Derek Rose and John Wall are not shooters. Russell Westbrook will probably not age particularly well in about four or five years. Ray Allen, play forever.

Dirk Novitsky can shoot forever. Steph Curry, as long as he doesn't get a major injury, could play into his 40s. So when I look at all these numbers coming out today, Brady does not, you can't franchise tag him because he wants to play beyond this. And just look at LeBron James. Use LeBron as your barometer. 17th year in the league. he is think about the people that came out into the league when LeBron did. Carmelo Anthony never took care of his body.

That was always the knock on Carmelo Anthony. He didn't work that hard on the defensive end. He was never in great shape like a D. Wade or a LeBron or a Ray Allen. He didn't age well. He fell off a cliff. He were like, oh, he's a borderline all star. Oh, he can't play at all. That's Cam Newton, semi-committed.

You know, I mean, there's some skills there, but Cam injuries never really worked on his mechanics very well, never really improved his accuracy. So he goes from, you know, starter winning games to overnight. No market for him. Brady's going to be fine. He's going to be wildly productive. Now, are they going to get into the playoffs in Tampa? That two things will have a huge impact that Tom can't control.

One, injuries. What if his own line falls apart? It happens. This was the first year Tom Brady had a bad O line with injury. he wasn't the same quarterback. Nobody seems to talk about that. He missed his left tackle, his center, and his fullback. The running game wasn't as good. They relied on Tom and weapons, and their weapons take. The second thing about playoffs for Tampa, Tom has no control over this. Special teams. The average score in the NFL is decided by four points. Tampa Bay,

historically bad special teams. Last year, 29th, they were bad in everything. You can lose a lot of games, bad snap, blocked punt, Tom, there's nothing Tom can do about it. But Tom will do his part. Tom will have big numbers next year. Now, the downside is with a coronavirus, will there be an OTA? Will there be a preseason? Will there be camps? That's vital because receiving and quarterbacking is all about timing. Running back is not. Receiver quarterback relationship is timing-based. But anybody doubting Brady's going to go there and chop it up and that Brady can't be successful. Now, he and Drew Brees, and I've seen this and said this for multiple years, they are not as effective latent seasons. They're not. Now, some of that is Tom plays outdoors.

It's harder to get loosened up. Tom is going to need to rely on his receivers and tight ends, and the Bucks will probably draft a tackle and a running back. But I do think as you age, you can still be great, though just not on the treadmill. I mean, Kobe Bryant's last game, he dropped 60. That year, though, last year, he played 66 games. And in five or six other games, he played 15 to 18 minutes. So he was a much more rested player for his final night, which he scored 60 points. Tom can still be great. Can he be great for 19 weeks if they made a run at the Super Bowl?

Those are the issues going forward. But if you think he's not going to be productive, you're out of your mind. He's going to be incredibly productive. Injuries and special teams will dictate. if they get to the playoffs. Because Tampa's had a lot of injuries, and Tampa Special teams are crap and have been forever. Tom will be fine.

All right, pack today, a lot of stuff coming up. Phil Sims, Rick Buecker, Jeff Schwartz. Mike Sando writes for the athletic. Every year Mike Sando has a column I love. It's called quarterback tiers, and he used to work at the other place, ESPN, and I would still spend a day on it every year. I think it's my favorite thing any writer does all year. It's Mike Sandoz's quarterback

Tierie. He calls all the scouts, all the GMs, all the executives anonymously. And so he's going to join us today about the NFL and what he's seen so far in free agency and what is going forward in free agency. Remember last year, Justin Houston ended up with Indianapolis four or five days into this thing. So there's moves that can still be made. That's coming up. And thanks again so much for joining us today. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app.

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,

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you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

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Search learn the hard way and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes,

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Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Oh, cream a chicken suit. A cream. Cream a chicken suit. This is help from a hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know.

Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coultera podcast network available on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When you're buying a car, the process can be overwhelming. Now there's a better way with True Car. Discovery to pricing to reviews, everything you need. The new True Car. It's a pleasure to have you in. Thanks so much. Mike Sando this hour, Phil Sims, top of next hour, Rick Buecker and Jeff Schwartz, excuse me. So all last year, I kept. saying over and over with the Rams and Todd Gurley. They're playing nice. Sean McVey is playing nice. Sean McVey, I'm stupid. I forget to keep giving the ball to Todd Gurley. What am I doing? I am so bad as a football coach. No. It was bad in the building. Gurley got his money and got

hurt and he was no longer a great locker room guy and it was pulling down at the fabric of the team. yesterday they released him. Now, it's not, excuse me, it's not punitive to release most football players. It's not the NBA or baseball. You can release guys all the time. It was $20.5 million punitive to cut Todd Gurley. For the record, Todd Gurdy can still play. He's not a star, but Todd Gurley can play.

He's not a stiff. he can be a good, good running back. But the fact that the Rams were willing to swallow $20 million of dead money over the next two years, just to give you some thoughts on or an idea or context on how much that is, the Steelers ate 21.5 million, just a million more to get rid of Antonio Brown. That was the most in NFL history at that point. that was the most in NFL history at that point. So when the Rams kept saying,

you know, we're going to give it to Gurley, no, no, no, no, no. This is what we do for a living. We make calls. We have sources. We kept telling you it's bad in the building. There is a stress tipping point on this thing, and it's not going to end well. I was told after the season ended, it would be ugly potentially. It could get very, very ugly.

I'm not blaming Gurley. But once he got paid and once he got hurt, it changed. The relationship between McVeigh, who's a good guy and pro player, he didn't want to bang on him and change the image of the Rams as being pro player. But the fact they're willing to swallow that kind of dead money over two years tells you how severe it was. Because Gurley can still play. I mean, we know Antonio Brown can play.

Gurley can still play. So the Falcons wound. He played college football at Georgia. You know, it's a good fit. And the Rams, the Falcons just lost a running back. So Gurdy's a good fit for them and he can play. It should also be noted. This is going to be a cautionary tale that it's going to hurt running backs.

The Rams, and we've been critical of them, despite the fact I know people in that building and I live in L.A. And not that far from a lot of people. In the NFL, don't sign players early. except a franchise quarterback. Don't sign anybody early and pay very few players big money. Remember, J.J. Watt was not worth a point as he was dominating the NFL defensively. It was not worth a point in Vegas. His four to six biggest games, his best year, they were a 500 team.

OBJ. We all love OBJ. Go look at his best games as a pro. They've won one out of three. So pay your quarterback a wince or a gaw for a Russell Wilson early. That I get. My homes, pay them early. Outside of that, I'm almost paying nobody and certainly nobody early. Hate your job, maybe time for a career change.

IT pro, little as four months. Go to my computercareer.edu, take the free career evaluation, not rocket science. It's my computer career, John Goulet, veteran newsman with the news. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Colin, you just mentioned it. The Rams former running back, Todd Gurley, has signed a one-year deal with the Falcons this morning. A lot of people thought he would be a free agent for a while.

He was not even a free agent for more than about 12 hours. The Falcons had previously cut their starting running back Devante Freeman. Gurley, as you said, played in Georgia, so it's kind of a homecoming. Here's what's interesting. First of all, Gurley is only 25 years old. That's worth noting. He's already seemingly, people act like he's walking. washed up. He's still very young. Adam Schaeffert just reported the details of his contract.

It looks like it's like a one year, $6 million deal. Here's what I find interesting. So he's going to make $7.5 million from the Rams, six million from the Falcons. There's a $2.5 million offset. So Todd Gurley is going to make $11 million this year, which still makes him one of the highest paid running backs in the league despite being cut. That's slightly more than what Derek Henry made for getting franchise by the Titans. Well, I mean, life's not fair. There are players in the NFL that make a lot of money and are not worth what other, you know, timing's everything. And Gurley got the timing right.

His GM fell for it and gave him a contract early. And this is just, you know, I feel bad for Derek Henry, but, you know, Gurley's one of those players and there's been a lot of pro athletes that get big money, a lot of baseball players, get big money and never live up to their contract. That's an epidemic in baseball. And I'm interested what your thoughts are on the Falcons. We've obviously been talking about the Saints being good and now Brady's in that division. They need a running back.

And so Gurley is a good running back. And they added Fowler from the Rams. They still have a pass rush. They're that team that I don't know if they're a playoff team or not. I know I know any, they could probably beat anyone on a given Sunday. How about this? If we acknowledge that the NFC West, Rams, Niners, Seahawks, Arizona is the best division. Yeah.

The two other divisions, let me just say, now with Brady going to Tampa, I think the second best division, or maybe the best, is now Bridgewater to Carolina, Brady to Tampa is the NFC South. Yeah. I think it's the best division. The Panthers have lost a lot. They're kind of rebuilding, but the other three teams are very good. And they have at least a competent quarterback and a new head coach. We don't know what him, what Matt Ruhl and Joe Brady will be. Maybe they're the next big thing and the Panthers will actually be decent.

Brady goes from the worst division for 20 years to potentially the best. Speaking of Brady, there had been some rumors that wherever he would end up, he would want to bring Antonio Brown with him. So then Brady goes to the bucks and people all of a sudden remember that, Brown was with Bruce Ariens for his first two years when Ariens was the offensive coordinator of the Steelers. So could Brown be going to the bucks and creating literally the greatest wide receiver tandem ever? The short answer would be no. This is NFL network's Ian Rappaport talking about the idea of Antonio Brown going to the bucks. There definitely was some sense that Tom Brady would want to bring Antonio Brown with him.

This from some of the other teams that were potentially in the mix here. It really wasn't a secret. Brady and AB have remained close. My understanding is this is not something that Bruce Ariens is in favor of. He's had Antonio Brown before. The idea that Ariens has coached Antonio Brown should actually lead you to think he probably doesn't want him more than he does. Yeah, I mean, listen, organizations tell you what they think of players by not signing

them or signing them. Carolina tells you what they think of Cam. Right. Okay. Also, Antonio. You know, I mean, let's be honest, Bridgewater had multiple offers. That tells you what league executives think about Teddy as a human being. They like him.

They think he's smart. He's a good locker room guy. Like, I'm a big Bridgewater guy. I don't think he's a unique talent. I think he's kind of Alex Smith. You can absolutely get to the playoffs. You could win a division. He could win you a playoff game.

But at some point, you would need tremendous talent around him to get to a conference champion. Like you had with the Saints. And finally, when charges running back Melvin Gordon, held out last season. You were against the move, and I believe you even ran into him in an airport and told him you're not making the right decision here. It turns out you were right. Mike Garifolo of NFL Network has said that Melvin Gordon hasn't received anything remotely close to the offers he had on the table from the Chargers last season. Running back values kind of plummeting right now, right? Devante Freeman got cut, Todd Gurley got cut, the Levy on Bell contract hasn't worked out.

How badly did Melvin Gordon and his team mishandle this situation? Well, I think their agent made a mistake. I got to be honest with you. I like Melvin. I think he's a good kid. I think he's probably worth $7, $8 million. That's what he was offered. We met him at the Super Bowl.

He's a very nice guy. Oh, he's a great guy. By the way, I talked to Tom Telesco. They love him. They're huge fans of him. And they basically begged him. Listen, the money we're giving you, take it. Take this money.

because the other thing he had the chargers had weapons and a very good backup running back. So your leverage in life. Echler was actually more productive when Gordon was out last year. And if you looked at Anthony Lynn's running schemes the year he was holding out, the previous year, I think they have a kid named Josh Jackson. He's the kid from Northwestern, Austin Echler. They were all averaging fairly close. Justin Jackson, my bad.

Yards per carry, they were all averaging close to the same number. So it was one of those things where, listen, I've had an agent for a long, time I have to win this business. Overwhelmingly, they give you great advice. But sometimes it's possible that an agent gives an athlete or an entertainer, bad advice. And I think in this case, Melvin Gordon did not get great advice. Veteran newsman John Goulet. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. So for years, Mike Sando worked at my former employer, and he used to do this column every year. We'd spend a day or two on it every year. I loved it. We looked forward to it. And he would talk to scouts and general managers and executives anonymously.

Because when people are anonymous, nobody wants to badmouth anybody publicly, right? Like everybody tells you they love Carmelo Anthony, all the players, but nobody ever goes and plays with it, right? Everybody loves Cam, but nobody wants to assign him. Nobody wants to badmouth anybody, right? That's just the way we are. I mean, I'm outspoken. I don't think I've had two people in my life come up to me and say mean things. People are overwhelmingly nice. They're not confrontational. So when you do these anonymous polls, you get real answers from people who may not like a guy, but don't want to crush a kid. So last year, the only disagreement I had last year, he had Carson, the executives in the NFL had Carson Wentz as a tier two. I had him as a tier one.

And the executives had Jimmy Garoppolo as a tier three. I think he's a low tier two. But Mike Sando now is a senior NFL writer for the athletic, which is outstanding. Please subscribe all sorts of. really solid journalism. Mike's brought to us by Mercedes-Benz the best or nothing. First of all, Mike, thanks for coming on our show on a Friday. Thank you.

It's good to be here. Good to be here. Thank you. You wrote a piece about Brady and the treatment in New England. And I think Tom was the ultimate team player, Mike. But all of us want to be loved. We all want to feel important. And if you're as good as Tom Brady, you know, a hug occasionally wouldn't hurt.

Talk about the piece you wrote about, you know, Brady and, you know, Brady and, the unwillingness for Belichick to offer any sort of special treatment. I know. Everyone's talking about this divorce as if Tom Brady just decided to up and leave his wife of the last 20 years. And no one's mentioning he's been sleeping on the couch for the last eight months, right? I mean, and then sometimes the door's locked when he comes home. He's not going to come in to the back patio, you know. So they have pinched his contract the last couple of years, took away some of his guarantees a couple years ago.

And that was a big thing in the industry. To agents and people, executives who watch it, they're like, huh, what's going on there? Well, then they even let him have the, they waived the franchise tag, right? So they basically made it easy for him to decide that he wasn't coming back. But they wouldn't do that if they weren't okay with it themselves. And I think that's the part of the equation that, you know, people are coming to realize, but that's been part of it all along. You have tremendous contacts, obviously, not just because you've been doing it a long time,

but because of that anonymous poll you do, which gives you access to people. I'm sure it's hard, hard work, but the contacts you create are, you know, are fantastic. What are your contacts saying? I'll make the argument that Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, are probably as good a tandem as the league has. I think he's going to be productive. I have no prediction on playoffs because, Mike, that's injuries. Tampa Bay's special teams are historically bad. He can't control those things.

But I do think Tom's going to be productive. What do your executives think? Yeah, I agree. I think there's still a high regard for Brady and an acknowledgement that, look, he's not getting better at this stage of his career. He's probably lost a little bit here or there. But the absolute lack of weaponry, the breakdown of the offensive line, even losing their fullback so they couldn't do any of the 21 personnel, it really put him in the worst possible life. And he's at the stage, like Peyton was late in his career, if it's going to, if there's, pressure and he's coming. He just sits down. It looks ugly. He throws it away. He can really

look bad and helpless when it's bad. But we've seen this throughout history. Give these guys a baseline level of weaponry, right? And for 15 years, he's either had gronk or Randy Moss, basically. And then when you take it away and there's nothing, they become a system that's predicated on all these guys that have to be exactly in the right spot. You can't do that plugging in snoos and guys who haven't been there. So now we're going to see. This is going to be the test. You give him the elite weaponry,

and I'm sure there's going to be some hiccups. It's not going to be just seamless. He doesn't have the equity with those coaches. But I would imagine he's going to put up some better numbers. You know, it's interesting. Mike Sando, the athletic NFL senior writer at Sando, NFL, follow him. It's interesting. The last offensive pro bowler, the Patriots drafted, was Gronk.

the last pro bowler period is Jamie Collins in 2015. He was drafted before that, but in 2015. Yeah. They don't keep them all. They don't keep all their guys either, you know. And let me just say this. We tend to do this. You know, there's a great team, the Warriors, the Yankees, the Patriots, and, you know,

and I'm guilty of this. They're flawless. They're all geniuses. Can I make the argument? Belichick's a hell of a coach. He did not give Tom. great drafts. They have underperformed on draft weekend. Certainly. I think

they've done a great job with their the culture, how he wants it. Brady's a huge part of that, all that fitting it together and then having the best game plan. Awesome. But you're right. And I think some of the studies have shown that it's hard to outsmart the draft anyway. Who's doing it consistently, right? I believe

if you're in this league long enough, you're going to be 500. You know what I mean? I mean, it's just got a great way of humbling you eventually. Yeah. Bill Pollyan once told me, Mike, and Bill had a reputation. He got his first couple draft picks right. He did very well early. But he told me one time I set off the air, I said, did you ever totally

whiff? He goes, we got a guard into camp one year. I knew by the end of the second practice, I had made a horrible mistake. Yes. And he put all of his wisdom, which he has, you know, from the game, into that decision, and you still screwed up. So it's just like hiring.

and any, here's my joke, Colin. It's quarterback and head coach are the two most important things, and no one knows how to hire either one of them. Isn't that about true? I mean, who would have ever guessed Tom Coughlin out of Boston College would be that? I mean, seriously.

Pete Carroll, Mike, had been fired twice in the NFL, left under a cloud of controversy at USC, and was 7 and 9, 7 and 9, and now he drafts Russell Wilson, and he's a genius. And in week four of that year, I was going on radio shows, and people were saying,

should they bench Russell Wilson after the two-and-two start for that season? Should they go to Matt Flynn and give him a look? Because let's face it, we don't know. People don't know. I got three things to address. I was never a huge Cam fan, and I questioned the market for him. There doesn't appear to be one. Mike, what is your belief on where Cam will be in six months?

Well, I've wondered how if he's going to be playing. Because, first off, it's unfair to lump him in with all the other quarterback because he's on a roster with a $19 million salary. So if you want to get him, you've got to do things that are harder to do. So I see him not a free agent, high salary. You have to acquire him. He missed 14 games last year. He's never played well consistently, in my opinion, especially since he's been hurt. And even when he was good, not everyone wanted to adapt everything they did offensively to him.

now there's concerns over the health, his skills, which like I said, not everyone love both of them. And to maximize him, you have to build everything around him. So is he the ideal backup to come in? I'm sure he doesn't see himself as a backup. He's himself as a starter. So then, see, I don't think the people he's been with, the Mike Shula's, Norbert they don't hate him.

I mean, I think they liked working with him. But you don't just bring in Cam Newton as a guy in your quarterback room, do you? Well, you know what it is? when you're a unique player, you have to uniquely build around a player. Lamar Jackson's a unique talent. So you have to fundamentally get the right

coordinator, get the right running game. You know, a few 12 years ago were a pocket passer who could throw some darts. The league had a lot of duplication. But Cam is a unique player, so you would have to build with some special parts that other teams

wouldn't use. And so I always said this about Tebow. It wasn't doesn't that Tebow couldn't win games, but you would have to create an offense and then draft a backup to Tebow, who was Tebow, that he was so limited throwing the ball down the field that, Mike, I just don't see a lot of GMs wanting to roll the dice on having to create, he twists an ankle, your season's over. You have nobody else that plays like it. Well, I think the question with Cam, though, is that stuff's all worth it if he can do those things. And, you know, he played two games last year, and he hasn't shown an ability

consistently lately to do that. And no one thinks as he gets older, he's going to suddenly get better physically. So I think there's going to be a period here of sort of a reckoning for him, for other teams, can he find the fit? Can he get healthy? Mike Sando, the athletic? Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, by the way,

he's on a roster and he costs $19 million a year right now. So that's different too. Okay, so the Rams, throughout the course of the year, I had it pretty well sourced where the girly situation was much worse that was being reported. Sean McVe did not want to, you know, crap on a player. He's very pro-player. But the girly situation could eventually, I was told, get very ugly. So yesterday, he's gone. They swallow some dead

cap money like $20 million. That's a ton. What do you make of just releasing you? What did you make of that? Well, what else are you going to do? I mean, there's no nice way to fire somebody, right? I mean, they weren't going to pay that $10 million bonus. What are they supposed to do? Have a nice ceremony and they were not cutting you and then he's cut. You know, I mean, they did probably what they had to do. And, you know, they've been ripped rightfully so for doing that deal. But the context of the time was, remember, Aaron Donald was holding out and they were trying to reward some of their own guys.

And they really went over the top on him and just bit him in the butt. Yeah. The story came out this week from a report of the Boston Herald that said Miami would like the number one pick and would be. willing to give several good picks to Cincinnati. Not that I don't respect the reporter. I give it very little credence because I think the bingles have shown they're fairly frugal and they're reticent to move out of the number one spot.

I think it's a tough spot for them. He's an Ohio kid, borough, you know, the family, the Midwest. I don't think it's possible. I don't think Cincinnati would have kind of the DNA. It's not in their nature to do it. But what did you make of the report? I think it's fun. I mean, heck, we need as many reports like that as we can get with everything that's going on.

I'd love to talk about it. To me, I think there are people who think Burrow is special and you should never trade out of it. I mean, I've talked to someone in the front office who said they had to just disband their whole football operations. They're not going to pick. I mean, I know other people that I respect to are like, you know, he's good, but it's one-year production and he's not that special physically. So if you believe the second one, you should take a ton of picks, right, and still get a quarterback. if there's somebody comparable. I don't think we know.

I don't think this is as easy as, you know, Andrew Luck coming out where everybody loved him, although I've had people tell me he's even better than that because of the system he's running is going to lend itself better to the program than even Andrew Luck did. So who knows. There is a lot of who knows in the draft.

Mike Sando, continued success. Congratulations. The athletic is going to be around for a long time. And you guys have done unbelievable work. especially in the last couple of weeks. I don't think I've ever read more stuff from The Athletic. Thank you very much for coming on our show. They appreciate it.

Maybe we'll do it again when quarterback tears comes out. There we go. We will. I love that. All right. Coming up next, Jared Dudley of the Lakers was not very optimistic from what inside the Laker locker room feels about the season continuing. And he had some thoughts yesterday to Rob Parker and Chris Broussard. We'll bring you those coming up next.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. 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,

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I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and. losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you

hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show,

I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42.

A rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please!

But there's so much more to me than that. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives. helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian! I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice.

One ring is too scary. Oh, cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream, cream a chicken suit. This is help from a hypocrite. The worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coultera podcast network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. Good to have you in.

Phil Sims' top of next hour and Rick Buecker, too. Jared Dudley plays for the Lakers. He's a journeyman in the NBA. He's always been very good with the media. It was on with Rob Parker and Chris Brousard yesterday. And the NBA yesterday decided to shut down practice facilities. not just games in the season, but now practice facility where a lot of players work out. And Jared Dudley's thoughts are as follows.

Once I heard the news of no more practice facilities, if that goes for a month, month and a half, two months, I find it almost impossible to then have a season because now you're telling a professional athlete for 60 to 80 days, you have done no training. I'm in my training. Yes, you can be in your gym, you can run on a treadmill if you have one. He goes on to say 70% of athletes don't have a personal gym in their house. And he says you're asking a professional athlete now to get ready in two or three weeks for potentially 40 games. That's when injuries happen.

First of all, my feeling is LeBron has a great deal of power in this league. This has been a rough year in terms of the Lakers, the Kobe tragedy. you'd throw an MVP LeBron's season away. There was the China situation LeBron dealt with. They had their two biggest wins of the year, bucks and clippers. Really, many people thought they looked like a championship favorite. That is a lot to deal with. And most of us, I think, are willing to work very hard.

But it's one thing to work very hard and deal with stress and then be told none of these games count. I think LeBron will fight like crazy, and he's had great influence in this league. He'll fight like crazy to make this season count as he should. The Lakers are in a unique situation. Brittle Anthony Davis doesn't count. LeBron now going into his 18th year, this wouldn't count. It's the second or first oldest roster a year older.

It's also a bad free agency year. There's not a lot of help out there in the offseason. This was always been a very small window, a one or a two, maybe three-year window for the Lakers because of LeBron's age. To me, I think you could start July 15th. That's four months from now. I think you could start the season four months from now. Because remember, you could open facilities, arenas, to work out. have social distancing and spacing,

and you can test the players to know if anybody has corona. If they did not, you could in three and a half months start a practice, a very Spartan environment with players, a couple of trainers and a coach to get them in shape. But if you think about the NBA, to me, and Adam Silver was quoted telling Woj the other day, that we are going to ask our owners to be willing to experiment with new ideas, is. I don't think it takes that long. I think you could start July 15th and be done by Labor Day.

That's six weeks. How? Eliminate the first round. Just eliminated. And scrunch the games closer together. Last year, the Spurs Nuggets in the first round started in April 13th, didn't end until the end of the month. The Bucks swept Detroit. It took eight days. Get rid of the first round. get rid of it. In the east have the Bucks Raptors Celtics Heat. Sorry, Sixers. Your stars don't like each other. Ben Simmons is hurt.

You're terrible on the road. You're not a championship team. In the West, your top four seeds are Lakers, clippers, nuggets, jazz. Those were my top four seeds going into the season. They were your top four seeds. The Rockets will complain. Sorry, I've seen Westbrook in the postseason. I've seen Harden in the postseason.

And you're the smallest NBA team ever. To me, you could start July 15th. That's around the Olympics. And I think you can wrap it up by Labor Day. As far as the draft, you know, the NBA draft is not the NFL draft. It doesn't move the needle. This year's one of the worst drafts in recent memory. There's one or two top players.

There's no Zion. There's no John Morant. There's no guarantee like we had last year. Free agency period. Again, it's second-tier players. It wasn't going to be a needle mover anyway. So I think you could start it in four months. Now, do we have our arms around this in four months?

I don't know. I felt from the beginning what I've been told, the coronavirus would be a spring and summer story. It was never going to be a three, four weeks story. It is a four to five month story, which is a great break for the NFL. But I don't think you want to throw this season away. The number one franchise is the Lakers.

Their window is small. LeBron's had a remarkable year. they've had a lot to deal with. I think Adam Silver, I cross my fingers on this. I think there's too much to throw away. And I think you can start it late. Make the playoffs six weeks, not eight, which is normal. Hour two, Phil Sims around the corner on a Friday.

Thanks so much for joining us back after this. 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. Last night, a blown call changed the 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 SportsSlice 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, 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with social. So many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth?

Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keer Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now.

What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out.

Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help!

Somebody, please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope I'm a Hypocrite. I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike! I'm a comedian! I'm not qualified to give good advice.

Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Oh, cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coutura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Live in Los Angeles, Hour 2, this is... The herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Podcast delivered later and all over Twitter today as well. All of our platforms, good to have you in today. It is interesting, as we've all been thrown out of our habits. I need a haircut desperately.

Not going to be getting one of those for the next month. I've got a little bit of a nerve thing going on with my neck, so my left arm has been sort of. dead when I wake up every morning. So, you know, it's just amazing how often you take for granted all those little, obviously crucial, but, you know, little things that we have at our disposal every day, we just don't have them anymore. So I can eat, I can go to the bank, I can go to the pharmacy.

But haircut, forget it. Physical therapist, not going to happen. Guess I won't be playing tennis for the next four months. there goes that hobby. But, you know, we're here. Knock on word, everybody in my family's healthy. I'm wishing the best of you and yours. Phil Sims in less than five minutes.

I saw this story. Mike Girardi had on his Twitter account. He talked to Robert Kraft, owner of the Patriots. He said, Kraft made this analogy with Brady. Quote, think about loving your wife or for whatever reason. There's something her father or mother that makes life impossible for you and you have to make a move on it, but you don't want to. want to. So as he's saying, her father or mother is Bill Belichick, uh, you know, make of it what

you will. A story came out today that the Patriots were reportedly in discussions to make two blockbuster trades, but they came up short, one of them being Stefan Diggs. And we had said this. Tom Brady was waiting for a sign. Tom Brady was willing to go back. He did not make up his mind and had told people that until the very end. Had they signed or traded for Stefan Giggs, Diggs, Brady would have stayed. Because then Diggs is your number one. Edelman becomes your number two. Then you have

Muhammad Sanoo, Nikiel Harry. You have an opportunity to have a legitimate receiving corps. But when Stefan Diggs could not be acquired via a trade, you have a second tier receiving court with no downfield options.

So remember Albert Breer was on our show and Albert said, you know, this came down, to New England's inability in that small little 24-hour tampering window, New England couldn't land a top receiver. We now know they tried. Brady would have stayed under certain circumstances. I can tell you that as fact.

Like, if certain things had lined up, I think he would have been very open to it. The other piece of this is, you know, I think, you know, the Patriots did work on that, like, and they did explore all options. And I can tell you that over the last two weeks, they've been very active in talking to different teams about receivers, about tight ends. In fact, Tampa was one of those. It should be noted Brady came down reportedly to the Chargers, excellent weapons.

Two backs, three receivers, two I really like, and a tied end in Hunter Henry and Tampa Bay, arguably the best receiver tandem, that you could argue that if you took a team's top two receivers and its best tight end, Tampa's number one in the league. So, I mean, this was a weapons thing. If Stefan Diggs is a Patriot and not a Buffalo Bill, I believe Tom Brady stays. Look at who the finalists were. He didn't choose the best offensive line. The Colts were interested.

He didn't choose the best running back. The Raiders were interested. He didn't choose those. Chargers and Tampa. Flawed teams, great weapons. Phil Sims has worked for CBS for a long time, the former New York Giants, Super Bowl winning quarterback is joining us, a two-time Super Bowl champ. Phil, I just had your son on the other day.

You have to be incredibly proud of him. He's now carving out a great career. You called so many Tom Brady games over the years, often in that late window. When you would sit down with him in these production meetings, did you ever, ever? I mean, you're a good observer of life. Did you ever sense that he was frustrated with the lack of the arsenal he had to work with often in New England? Well, you know, Colin, I did not because, you know, the years I covered him, he always had a great arsenal. It was either the wide receivers that went undefeated with Randy Moss in that group,

or it was the double tight ends, Hernandez and Gruncowski. Then, oh, they took that away or that changes, and they went to the running back passing game. So when I was there and all the years I covered him, of course, I haven't the long. last three years, but their offense was always clicking, very creative. And, you know, so I never felt frustration from him at all. But I have to admit, you know, this past two years, I have felt that just by reading the paper, watching their games, seeing their offense and everything. And, yeah, you could just feel it.

They didn't go to the OTAs, which I'm sure. Yeah. When, I don't know, I haven't heard a lot of people talk about that that much. But that is just something that probably irked Bill Belichick more than anything else that could go on that you didn't show up for the OTAs during the off season. Boy, that's a great point. I totally forgot about that. Tom was giving his signals beyond putting his house up for sale. Not going to the OTAs was a signal.

Now, I said this. Well, you know what he was doing? He was just putting them all out there to let you know, don't take me for granted or whatever, which I don't think they did. But, you know, when you're in a position of being a quarterback, not coming the OTAs, not to go back to that. But that would be something Bill Belichick could just be going, man, that's just not right. You know, the quarterback is, I know what he thinks of what he expects from his quarterback at all times, all these years I've known him.

And he wants you, hey, if you don't have to participate, be there, be with the team, be part of it, and still lead us, even though you may be not practicing as much as the other guys. The four best football coaches, I believe in my lifetime, have been Bill Walsh, Bill Parcells, Jimmy Johnson and Belichick. Those are my four. Now, I'm not saying they're the best. They're my four. I do believe each one of them may have a hole,

just like even Joe Montana could have a hole in his game or Brady could have a hole in his game. Sure. I've said this about Belichick. He grew up in a very academic household. When you think of academics, you don't think of warmth. There is a certain warmth that I think sometimes he lacks. And I think as Tom got older, he's got kids, that Bill could have been a little warmer toward him. They'd had so much collaborative greatness.

Is that a fair criticism of Belichick that there's a certain warmth that he's never had? And perhaps it just wore Tom out, who's very much a family guy and a loving guy. Well, I think everybody always wants to feel a little love from the coach, whatever, or just appreciation. I'm sure he gave it to him. But that's just not in Bill's makeup. You know, it's not that he goes out of his way to try to be the way you explained. I just think that's who he naturally is. You know, he's a pragmatic guy. You know, I saw it even with the Giants, this way of just working, let's keep working.

And, you know, there wasn't great interaction. Bill Parcells wasn't warm and fuzzy, that's for sure. But every once in a while, he would walk by you and tap you on the shoulder and go, hey, I just want you to know you're doing great, son. And just walk on by it. And, oh, my God, you'd feel like a million dollars. I must be doing great for Bill to say something nice about me. that he did have that in him.

He went to touch you emotionally to help you or to show great appreciation or whatever. And I just don't think that comes naturally to Bill Belichick. By the way, there was always been this thought that you and Parcells, there was some Brady Belichick going on. But I watched the two bills. I find Parcells to be very easy to laugh, even sometimes be, you know, humbled. I always feel, I mean, you work with him so closely, I've always felt Bill has a very human side.

He's gruff. He's New Jersey tough, but lovable. Very, yes. I mean, I think everything you said, he was a great psychologist. He was a tremendous football coach, but he was more of a psychologist than anything. He knew how to hit the right buttons with every player, and it was different with every player. Some he would be verbally and everything very tough against, and others he would treat him with kid gloves because he knew they couldn't take it. but the ones that could take it, he would use them,

and he would beat them up to show the rest of the team that nobody was above the rest of the players, and it sent messages to the team, and it was really, truly very well done by Bill, but it always worked. No, sometimes I think it backfired a little when he got a little too tough, but, you know, he found a way to always bring it around

to help the team and to give us even a better chance to win. You know, if you look at Brady, the things he's relied on are not athletic ability. He's relied on pre-snap reads, accuracy, work ethic, leadership. I don't think those are road. Now, I think he's going to be very successful production-wise in Tampa because... So do I. Very good. I mean, I could make the argument.

If you took every NFL team's two best receivers and best tied end, Tampa's number one in the league, or it's a short list they're in. So I think he'll be productive. But I want you to talk about body. Now, obviously, nutritional standards have been elevated. I want you to go. Tell me about your last year in the league physically. How did you feel when you got up in age? You know, how old was that my last year?

I guess I was 38, I think. I'm not sure. That's terrible. But, you know, I felt fine, Colin. I don't remember getting up going, oh, my God, I can't take this anymore. I never felt that. And then when the Giants released me after the 93 season, after it was the playoffs and what a playoff game,

I'm not bitter about it. But, you know, just kidding there, of course. But I, you know, I never felt like, oh, my body's worn out. I have to get out of this. I don't like the training. I loved all that about football, the training, the discipline, and everything. And Tom Brady does too. Let me say this to you.

I hear people on TV. His arm is not as good. What are you watching? Thank you. might be better now than it's ever been in his career. Yes. Okay. Here's the other thing, too.

He might run a 5-3-40 or whatever it was, but he dances in the pocket like he's 4 or 5. I mean, his feet are, you know, there's a little pop to him, whatever you want to call it, juice. There's just great rhythm to his feet. And, you know, there's very few quarterbacks in league that have them, have it as good as he does. Deshawn Watson.

Great feet, man. He's like a dancer back there. And Tom Brady is still that way. You watch him. I've seen highlights of him from last year, and I look at him, I just go, man, he can just move around that pocket like he's a ballet dancer. And that is something that I don't know why more quarterbacks don't emulate now. It's just maybe they don't know how.

Somebody's got to teach him. But he has learned that and used it to his streak. And I watched him all the games I did. I think I did near 90 Patriot game. Wow. I watched him practice all this foot movement, pocket movement and everything. I watched them do it every single time I was there. They worked very hard at it.

And, of course, you know, that hard work and all that time put into that, it shows up when you watch Tom Brady play. You know, the other thing, Phil, you didn't always have great O lines. Until last year, I could make the argument that the one unit Tom always played with that was top 10 was O lines. He has not taken a ton of hits. Now, I can remember you at times in your career getting blasted. at A, it was allowed, and you didn't always have a great O line. Brady has largely, his sack numbers are very low. He's always had above average tackles and centers.

And I wonder if Phil Sims, if you were playing today with your brain power, you would eat better the nutrition. You were 38. But remember, 38 now is about 35. No question. I think, Phil, had you been given? Because I remember your last year. Had you been given Tom's O lines and the nutritional advancements,

you would be playing at 40. I honestly believe that. Oh, I do too. I mean, I have no doubt about that. I still thought even when my career in it, I was like, man, I flirted with coming back a couple times. That three teams make me better offers than I ever received from the Giants. Wow.

And, you know, my wife, my kids were growing up. I think my son Christopher might have been getting ready to go into high school. And my wife says, oh, that's so great. I'm so happy for you, and we'll come visit you on weekends. And I said, okay, that is not going to happen. I know that story where the guys live in the hotel, how that goes. It doesn't go well. But, hey, listen, I did play for some really good offensive lines for a long period of time.

It was just a different game. We held the ball. We threw it down the field. Yes. Stand in there, take the hit now. You got screens. That's what the Patriots did such a great job of. Tom Brady, of course.

will get rid of the football to avoid sacks. That's great. But they throw all those screens and quick passes to keep your defensive line off balance. And then if they want to throw it down the field, if they're worried about protection, they're not afraid. You know what? We don't have to get all five guys out. Somebody hit this. Tideon hit the guy on your side, running back before you go on your route, hit the other defensive end.

Brady got the extra time. Then he fired the football down the field. Yeah, I said this last year. He takes about one to two shots a year. where you're like, ah, that's tough. But he's actually practiced getting hit. So I think he's a 39-year-old guy who's actually 43. Well, I just can't wait.

You know, his age, you know, they all used to make fun of me in the locker room. Music would come on. What's his song, Phil? Do you know it? If I was right, they'd be like flabbergasted, oh, my God, you know. It was fun. So he'll, he's going to have guys down there calling Mr. Brady in Tampa Bay because they're going to be, of course, they think,

of him as this mythical figure, which he basically is. And here's the other thing. His communication with Bruce Ariens and the coaching staff will be like nothing he's ever really had in his life either in the pros, and the pros. Because Bruce, it's all out there. He talks to you, you know, there's no holding back. It's just the truth or either way good or bad. And, you know, he makes it personal.

That's why players love playing for Bruce Ariens. It's the second year of this staff of his being together. That's right. It's big. Yeah, I think it's a really, really good coaching staff down in Tampa Bay. He did a great job of getting it together. And, hey, if James Winston was the quarterback in Tampa Bay this year, I would have said, look out. I think they have a chance.

I watched every one of their games last year. They were always in it. They just found ways to lose. James Winston would play. He makes his many spectacular. plays as any quarterback in the NFL. His problem was three times a game, he'd lost control of the football. And for a quarterback in the NFL, if you lose it once a game or once every other game,

that's about it. You just can't lose control of the football. He does as part of how he throws it, the position he gets in, and he missed it one way, Colin, how was it? Where did he throw it when he usually missed? It was always high. Yeah. And you throw high and miss them high.

there's always people standing behind ready to catch it. And really, that's, that changed his whole football color. Yeah, by the way, Baker Mayfield this year had a problem with sailing the football. Sure, you know why? Because he was trying to throw it too hard, reaching back more than he did the year before, where he has plenty of arm, you know, isn't torn it 98 miles an hour good enough. Why do we got to reach back and try to throw it 99? And I thought that was the biggest difference in Baker Mayfield's play this year.

He just overthrew the football. And when you do that, generally it's going to get away from you just a little bit. And again, where did he miss him? He threw the ball high. He got tipped a lot down the field, up in the air, interceptions, missed guys that he didn't miss the year before. So I would think hopefully this year he'll settle down and just throw the ball at normal pace. And then when you need to put some pepper on it because the coverage is really tight

and you're throwing in between guys, then you know, then you let it go. Then you really rear back and just throw it with all you got. Yeah, Kurt Schilling always told me. He said, you know, at the end of my career, I had about 12 fastballs. And you just, you use them with discretion. It's a three and two count. And, you know, he goes, you just, you don't use them in the early innings if you can't. Finally, two-time Super Bowl champ Phil Sims.

What a pleasure for us. Finally. Let me just say this before we get on to it. James Winston, wherever he goes, I would think he will go to a good football team that's trying to give their playoff bound, they think, team insurance. and that would be great for him. And if you're the starting quarterback, don't let him get in there

because I think his talent is very good in the right system, get him under control a little. Don't put everything on his shoulders like Tampa Bay did. It's all about you today, big boy. Throw it to the right guy and be accurate the whole time that he could be a Ryan Tanny Hill type of quarterback next year somewhere. Well, it's very productive just sometimes for the defense, but you can't deny his productivity.

Finally, Joe Burrow. Give me your thoughts on what kind of prospect he is. Well, listen, it's really interesting. Last year, watched him really close the year before, I should say. When he was at LSU, when the season was over, I watched his game. I said, oh, okay, I like him because I'd write some stuff. I said, you know, he looks like he's going to be a third or fourth round pick. Of course, LSU brought a pro passing concept to the college game and right it that way.

Of course, they had great receivers and everything. and he took advantage of every bit of it. And he played like a pro, was taught like a pro. His movement was very good. He knew when to take off and run. Sneaky fast, no doubt about it. Great decision maker. And, hey, he's going to walk into a pro offense,

and he's going to go, look, oh, I've seen this before because their offense and Alabama's offense, to me, were so good for the quarterbacks to play under and to really learn to be pro football players. So Joe Burrow, he might not like this comparison, but there's a lot of Daniel Jones in there. And the only difference is one played at all, shoot, one played at Duke. And, you know, so Daniel Jones, he got roughed up a lot more and things like that. But Daniel Jones, I think he proved that he was really worthy of the sixth pick of the draft last year.

The fact that his throwing was much better than I expected, has enough strength in his arm to make all the throws. The only thing he didn't do, Colin, yes, he fumbled. But he didn't run enough. Man, if I had those legs, that first guy wasn't open. I know you standing here taking a hit. Let's run. That would be the only downside I'd see what Daniel Jones did. But Joe Burrow is the finished product, and I'll be shocked, of course, if the Bengals don't take him.

Phil, thank you. So I had Chris on earlier, you this week, a Sims week. Well, I apologize for my son. I'm sure he said something, you know, got everybody mad, but that's the way he is. Phil, thank you so much. All right, Colin, good to talk to you, man. Have a good day. All right.

Phil Sims for 20 minutes. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, Burrow, my comp on Burrow is Tony Romo, but Daniel Jones, again, if you put Daniel Jones at LSU with those players, and you put Joe Burrow at Duke with those players, you think the numbers change a little?

We all forget this. LSU had the best offensive line in the country, highest graded. They had the best wide receiver not available for this draft. They had a first or a second, round running back. They had a NFL coordinator. I mean, you put Daniel Jones in that. What do you think you get for Daniel Jones? I always said, you put Carson Palmer with Belichick and you put Brady

with Cincinnati. The numbers change. Coming up next, somebody I respect suggesting the bingles will move out of the number one spot, take the picks, and give up Joe Burrow. That's next. Live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. 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 reaction, 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 Slices Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my number. New podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth,

or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way.

Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at?

Hey, Miss. Marker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody!

Please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice

and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man.

If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Oh, cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite,

the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to help from a hypocrite. as part of the Mike Coutura Podcast Network available on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Untucket makes shirts designed specifically to be worn untucked. GQ calls them perfection.

promo code is heard. 20% off your entire first purchase or visit one of Untuckett's over 80 retail locations across America. Phil Sims was spectacular for 20 minutes. The two-time New York Giant Super Bowl champ joining us now with CBS sports, all sorts of good intel and insight. And, you know, Phil Sims retires. He's about 38, had three teams and could have played Phil Sims, who got bounced around

and go look at old NFL films. He was 38. He didn't have Brady's access to nutrition and training like that level now. He was 38 years old. We didn't, yeah, we didn't even know kale was that stuff if you went to the Wendy's salad bar in between the food on top of the ice. So Phil Sims at 38 had offers and could have played. So when people say a Brady can't throw,

I was so glad that Phil Sims came out and said, what are you talking about? Brady's arm is fine. Now, do I think over the course of a season, there is fatigue? Yeah. Yeah, you can be great. I saw Michael Jordan's last game in Portland, Oregon. He had like 40 points or 30 points.

He was great. But he was playing less frequently. He couldn't deliver those nights. He couldn't give you the back-to-backs. Charles Barkley end of his career wasn't giving you back-to-backs, but they can still light it up. So I don't worry about Brady. He's not going to be leaned on like he was in New England.

People just forget New England lost their center and their fullback last year. It killed their running game and no tight-in and Grunk retired. And, you know, so you just, you didn't have a number one receiver. Gronk retired, no full-back and center. It was the worst possible scenario for Brady. Everything now gets better. Everything. that he didn't have a strong arm, as Phil Simms said, what games are you watching?

It may not last until January, but his arm is absent. It's not the top seven. It's not Mahalms Rogers. It's not Wence. You know, it's not Josh Allen. There's a handful. It's not Stafford. Probably not Big Ben.

After that, he can throw with anybody. Jamis has a pretty good deep arm. But he can throw deep with the other 23 guys in this league. Veteran newsman John Goulet Turn on the news This is the herd line news Sponsored by Liberty Mutual Insurance Only pay for what you need

In a story that can only happen in our social media era Julian Edelman may have gotten himself into some trouble So Dion Sanders tweeted it would make sense for Edelman to go to Tampa Bay with Brady comparing it to Michael Jordan playing without Scotty Pippen And Julian Edelman liked the tweet Oh, my God! Couldn't it have been an accidental like?

Could it have been his social media guy maybe liked it and it wasn't actually him? Or does Edelman really want to go to Tampa? I don't know that we'll have an answer. Would you like to see Edelman stick with Brady? By the way, New England never pays him. I am sure that Brady has expressed interest in Edelman to Tampa. So he'd have all these great receivers as the- A slot is a little safety valve, right?

Well, especially for the first September. Right. Coronavirus, we may not have OTAs or camps. So to me, when people say veterans want to play with him, to me, Edelman is number one. You're Julian Edelman. You got two years left. Who do you want throwing to you? Jared Stidham or Tom Brady?

If I'm Edelman, that is absolutely, and I wouldn't be shocked if that happened soon. And that you take pay cuts when you're winning Super Bowl. All of a sudden, you look at Jared Sidham and you go, okay, why am I only making $7 million when I got Sidham throwing to me? We're not going anywhere with this team. So cornerback Darius Slay was traded from the alliance to the Eagles yesterday and given a new contract. And on his way out of Detroit, he had some harsh words for head coach Matt Patricia on WJR in Detroit. I ain't had that much respect for Mattie that much as a person because, you know, it was hard for me to play for him. That's all it was.

I had guys depending on me, they got to do a job. So I wanted to do it to my best ability for them. So their issues stemmed from one incident where Patricia said, said Slay wasn't elite and had no business working out with Richard Sherman and Akeeb Taleb because they were in the elite category. That's so stupid. Slay is a, he's an elite corner. Yes.

I mean, there's a reason. We all think the Eagles are smart. They just made him the highest paid corner in NFL history. He's a top three, four corner in the NFL, no question. Absolutely. And I would never dog a guy for working out with the league's other best corners. That's what you want people to do. He's better than Richard Sherman today.

And this was a couple years ago. This happened. Basically, their relationship fell apart. right away and it's never really recovered. What is going on in Detroit? They kept Patricia, even though he went from six wins down to three. They love Matt Stafford, even though he's never won a playoff game. Well, they have lower standards.

They have very low standards. Cincinnati's got lower standards. I mean, you know, it's just some of these franchises. That's why I always say you kind of, where you are in life, you got to stop pointing fingers and look in the mirror. It's 45 years old if you can't get your act together. stop blaming your parents. Like, you've got to have higher standards.

And, you know, I mean, Lion fans are defend Matt Stafford at every turn. Never won a division title in 11 years. And by the way, that's with Aaron Rogers getting hurt a couple times. That's without the Vikings. The Bears were a mess for most of that. And the Vikings have had Case Keenham, Kirk Cousins. There's no excuse with Matt Stafford, Calvin Johnson,

not winning a division title. And finally, six months after elbow surgery on his throwing arm, Ben Rothesberger says he has no doubts he can come back and play well this season. He actually says he's throwing without pain for the first time in years. And his GM, Kevin Colbert, over the offseason, said not only might he be better, but by sitting out the year with injury or most of the year with an injury, he did not take another season of wear and tear on his body. And that's worth noting with Big Ben because he gets hit a lot.

He seems to like to hang in the pocket of guys hanging off him. Colin, in 2019, the Steelers almost made the playoffs with Duck Hodges at quarterback. For them, that's how good their defense is, are people sleeping on them as a possible contender again if Big Ben comes back healthy? I don't know. I think that, I know Baltimore is going to be good. Sure.

I mean, I was thinking about this the other day. I think Cleveland is a 10-win team. I mean, Cleveland went 7 and 9 last year, right? Look it up. I believe so. Seven and nine with Freddie Kitchens. Yep. So is it hard to believe?

And they've improved their O-line, and they got a little more reliable at tight end. I would not. Now, Baltimore is better and Pittsburgh will be better. So you could go 0 and 4 in those games. But, I mean, Cleveland went seven. Six and 10. Okay, six and 10.

So is it unreasonable to think Stofansky's got his act together? They've upgraded the O line. They've upgraded some key spots. And they go 10 and 6. I mean, everybody thinks I'm down on Baker Mayfield. The fact they won six games last year, it was a tire fire. The whole season was. Yeah.

By the way, speaking of tight ends, just recently the Steelers signed Eric Ebron to a two-year $12 million deal. Oh, my God. Okay. When did that happen? Minutes ago. Okay, boom. You got to be kidding me. That's a great signing for them.

Big Ben gets Eric Ebron. Wow. By the way, good luck to Joe Burrell. Baltimore got better. Cleveland got better. Pittsburgh got better. Big Ben's coming back. Joe Burrow is going to get mulled by those fronts.

God, that division. I think that may be the best division. You may want to, you know how they say delete your account? Delete the Bengals. If you delete the Bengals, that's the best division of all time in terms of pure talent. Look at Cleveland's offensive talent. It's insane. Better newsman, John Goulet.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. Rick Buecker, my friend, joins me next. Jared Dudley says, I think the season's over. They canceled practice facilities. You can't go there to stay in shape. Are we looking at the only way to make this work is a five to a six-week playoff season?

And that's it. I got to tell you this morning, I see all these numbers on the coronavirus and predictions by our governor in California. I don't know if we're going to have an NBA season. I don't know. I would lean no at this point. 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. Welcome back. Good to have you in. Rick Buecker's my buddy.

Bleacher Report, senior writer, wrote an article about the NBA season and the possibility it may not happen. And so I saw you call me last night. I think I was crashed. I went to bed very early. I have all week. A lot of naps, a lot of going to bed early. Rick, let me start with this. Today, NBA season canceled. What are the odds? What are your odds today? Oh, I say it's probably 6040 right now. Wow. That it's canceled. The reality is that the farther down the line we get, the harder it is to start this up and the ramifications on next season.

I know a lot of people are excited about the idea of let's just change the NBA universe. And that's enticing. And the NBA is certainly progressive and forward thinking. And so if any league would, it would be the NBA. but there's a lot to consider that if you do go that direction, you can't go back. You know, once you set, once you occupy a different space in the sports calendar, you're going to have to stay there, particularly in the case of you move it back and you're playing December through August, say, now to change it up and say,

hey, you know what, we're going to go back to October through June would be a very difficult. thing. So if they make that move, then they have to look at it as they're doing it permanently. And if they don't make that move, if they don't want to make that move, then, I mean, realistically, I know, the most optimistic I can be is that we're playing playoffs in July. And here's the thing, like right now, right today, players, the league, the owners, everybody's in concert with, man, we really want to play. We really want to crown a champion. this year. We really want to see that happen. But then when you begin to consider how artificial crowning that champion will be, these guys being out for two and a half, three months,

it's like you're starting the season over. You're going to, I mean, there's going to be so many elements that you're not going to look at it as a real champion anyway. And I think when that reality hits, then everybody's going to go, is it really a good idea? And that commitment that we have right now is going to waver. Yeah, well, it's, I mean, it's interesting. If you started the season July 15th, which I propose, and you just do, you know, the top six teams, get rid of the first round, basically. You go to the best four teams, like Lakers, clippers, nuggets, jazz. That's who we thought was good anyway. But the problem being, to your point, you'd probably finish around Labor Day, where you can't start the season up in October again. So I think, right, right. Yeah.

So, there was a story yesterday. And then the other part is, is that you're, you are, you know, you're looking at, you're not going to do it with crowds, probably going to do it in smaller venues where you can control the, you know, control the environment. I mean, that's why even with guys coming into facilities, I mean, as of, what was it, we shut it down today is officially the day where all facilities are closed. Prior to this, the Miami Heat, the Orlando Magic, a few other teams, were having players come in, but they schedule.

So they would only come in two at a time. You could have, and you would have one guy, one coach at one basket. Those were the league rules. You could have one guy in the weight room. And then everything had to be sanitized. All the equipment had to be sanitized. And you brought the new wave in. And that was the extent of workouts with the facilities open.

So it's just when you begin to look at the reality of trying to contain this and getting back to play. I know we all want to play. You know, the best thing that happened to me so far today is that my wife sent a text message out that the hash browns were ready. And my son came and said, can I have yours, dad? Like, those are the small joys that I'm getting out of life right now, not having the NBA, not having sports.

It's made me realize what a huge vacuum it's created. Yeah, I mean, once they closed the practice facilities, this morning was the first time I got up. and I really thought, we're probably not going to have a season. Because you can't ask guys to play in a bridge season and not let them be in shape. It takes at least two to three weeks. I mean, football, basketball, these are the world's best athlete. You can't have six workouts, cardio workouts and go play. So, I mean, I'm with you now.

I think you could do it. I do think you could start your playoffs in four months. I think it's possible. But the more I read about this corona stuff, Now here's the one thing. LeBron has influence. I don't think LeBron wants to throw his 17th year, his MVP level year away.

What about the argument that LeBron's going to push for, let's finish this thing up? Yeah, I could see that. On the other hand, it's going to be so artificial. And I look at the Lakers in particular, and I've talked to a number of people around the league about this fact that, older players are going to have a harder time ramping up and are going to be more prone to injury.

I talked to Anthony Tolliver, who's a vet. He built his own half-court gym in Texas. That's why he left Memphis and went home because he can actually get better workouts at home with his, he's got a weight room set up. He's got, you know, some of the veterans who have had to kind of keep themselves ready on their own and the top echelon guys are better prepared for this, I'm sure LeBron is able to stay in shape, but there are plenty of other guys, including an entire Lakers team being one of the older teams in the league. He's got to know that he's coming back with a compromised team.

And so I think there's probably, you know, LeBron doesn't want to throw this away. It's going to take away something that he could have added to his legacy that would have been profound. But I also, again, like the longer this goes on and you start like figuring out, the collateral damage, you begin to realize, I don't know if I'm necessarily going to be, like, if he felt good about winning, winning, you know, a month ago, I don't know if he's going to feel the same way a month from now. Sports is habit, Rick. Is the NBA concerned at all?

Sports fans get out of a habit. They move to football sooner. You know, you start next, this October and November, they had no ratings. Is there concerned you think in the league office? listen, man, once we get out of people's habits, we've seen what happens to hockey when they had, you know, a season blown out. It doesn't help the numbers. I don't wonder if there's concern about that.

Yeah, well, I think that's why they would, you know, there's a, there's a, why the, they would even entertain moving where they are in the sports landscape, uh, on the sports calendar, because if you look at starting in December and going through July or August, you get to occupy a lot. of dead parts in the sports calendar, you're suddenly now really the hottest commodity. And so I know that that is attractive. But here's the other part where I think that the NBA is not as concerned about the ratings and attendance, which is that they have so much revenue from other elements, which is, you know,

licensing on games and merchandise. and they have this vast global fan base of people who will never attend a game and will will, you know, we'll never even buy an NBA league pass. So I think there's concern in how it looks, whether it's a hot commodity or not a hot commodity, and the fact that we rate things based on TV ratings and attendance for most sports. But the NBA has been in a unique place. Their challenge, and I think we've talked about this before, is that they're, and you see it with the NFL right now. The NFL has taken over social media in a way that it never did when the NBA was alive.

Because now it's the only thing going for us to consume that way, and it's exciting. Well, the NBA has owned that, and the only thing that they haven't been able to do is monetize it. That's what they're looking to do. Rick, best to you and your family, buddy. And same to you, Colin. And to all the listeners out there, stay safe, take it as a for real thing, and keep in mind that we're all in this together, and we can all keep each other safe.

Thanks, man. Plans this weekend, be prepared if you get in a car, Michelin Endurance XT Silicon Wiper Blades, last two times longer available at Walmart. Real World Proven Quad-Tech 4-layer. That helps. repel water and snow. I guess snow's mostly done. Although it did snow in Denver. I saw Mark Schleras Twitter yesterday. It's snowed in Denver. But Denver's interest. It's like high desert. You'll get snow

in the next day at 74. Jeff Schwartz joins us coming up next hour, three and a Friday. Really a quick, fun two hours. It's the Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed the 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 SportsSlice 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 Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games.

And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many. many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth.

And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her.

What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford Show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help. the internet. Help!

Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, hope from a hypocrite I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike!

I'm a comedian! I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice. known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Oh, cream a chicken suit.

Hey, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the My Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome in our three live in Los Angeles on all our platforms. This is The Hurt. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, Sirius XM Channel 83.

Our podcast will be downloaded later. I've listened to a lot of podcasts over the last couple of weeks. Our numbers are skyrocketing. I imagine everybody's are because a lot of people are. because a lot of people are at home. We live in a state now that you're not supposed to get in your car unless you're going to a bank, a pharmacy to pick up some food or go to a grocery store. There are certain places like the airport.

I guess, you know, there are certain places I'm working, obviously. I'm set up if I have to do it at home, I will. So, you know, it goes state by state. It's nice to have you in. It is the, I don't remember the only thing I can compare this to is post 9-11. and that was for about a week air travel changed. You know, what's the new normal? I don't have any idea.

I have no idea. I do bristle a little bit when we're compared to Italy and their death rate. That's a country the size of Michigan with 60 million people jammed into it, twice as likely to smoke. Older citizenry, it's the second oldest country in the world to Japan. I don't think we're Italy. But be that as it may, I'm not an expert. And so listen to Dr. Anthony.

What's his last name again? Dr. Anthony Fauci, my bad. I'm so sorry. He's been great. Go to the CDC and the John Hopkins website. Can't believe I forgot that doctor's name. I've been watching him nonstop for a week. I wish he'd do the talking only.

So it's good to have you in. A couple of things. I saw this two stories. One, Cam Newton, there's no market for him. And I get, I'm an opinionated guy. have strong opinions. And there's athletes I've been really hard on. And I'm going to list them. John Wall, Derek Rose, Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, Johnny Mansell, Carmelo Anthony, Baker Mayfield, Blake Griffin. Cam Newton. Have I been wrong on any of them? Ted Williams batted 400 one year, best hitter ever.

I'm batting a thousand. I'm not picking on anybody. There's no market for it. I do believe there's a market for James Winston. I think Washington may bring him in. And I think he's better than Dwayne Haskins right now. And I think he's more capable of more production than Alex Smith, who I'm not sure is going to ever play again. There's no market for Cam. There really isn't. You can say it's health.

Tom Brady's 43. There was a market for him. So I've never been a big fan of Cam Newton. I think he's aged poorly. I think, you know, it's just like any human. You look at Dr. Anthony Fauci. He's 79 years old. He looks great.

He's smart, fluid, cerebral, jogs three and a half miles a day. He's taken care of his body. I always use the LeBron Carmelo Anthony. They come into the league same time. LeBron is still the best player in the year in the league at 17. His body's a temple. Carmelo Anthony fell off a cliff. Never took care of himself.

He was never in great shape. I had more than one NBA executive tell me. The guy's not in great shape. You can look at his body. D. Wade, look at his body. Ray Allen, look at his body. LeBron James, look at his body. Those guys are in shape.

Those guys are in great shape. Carmelo never was. And when you're not in great shape and you have a crisis in your life or a problem in your life, you age rapidly. And Carmelo just off the end, very quick.

LeBron, Tom Brady, they can push it, push it. You know, I've said this about Big Ben. Big Ben's never really been known as a guy that grinds. Joe Flacco is not known as a guy that grinds in the offseason. Flacco and Big Ben

have not aged as well. Brady. and Breeze grind in the offseason. They've aged really well. Look in the mirror. You know, if you're 55 years old and you're falling apart, that's not mom and dad's fault. That's not the government's fault.

You know, you just look at these pro athletes. Flacco's not age well. Big Ben didn't age well. Breeze and Brady age great. I think Russell Wilson, like LeBron, is going to age brilliantly. I think Russell Wilson's going to play for 10 more years. And I'm serious. He'll play into his 40s.

And you say, well, he's a runaround guy. he doesn't get hit. He just doesn't get hit much. So take care of yourself, take care of your body. And I don't think a lot of these guys, the market shrinks for him, it's not a lot of times it's the drama. You know, I'll say this. The Steelers did a very good job for years to keep most of the Antonio Brown nonsense

in the building and then it leaked at the end. The Rams did a very good job to keep the Todd Gurley stuff in the building. Carolina did a great job to keep a lot of Cam Newton's baggage in the building. If he doesn't get signed, there won't be a lot of stories. But I'm not saying he's a bad guy, but he's not an easy guy. And organizations, the thing in the NFL, when Michael Sam came out and people were like, oh, this is homophobia by the league. And I said, hold on.

He's not a great football player. and there were real concerns. I talked to NFL people that is there a distraction element from the media? And I said this with Tim Tebow. Tim Tebow was a distraction. He became so big a celebrity. There were concerns you couldn't bring Tebow in to be a backup. The media just glommed on and creates a distraction.

This league hates distractions. Gurley became a distraction. He can still play. Out. Antonio Brown's brilliant. Distraction. I said this with Kaepernick. Kaepernick and Tebow are celebrity backups.

That's not a job in the NFL. You can't be a celebrity backup quarterback. And everybody wants to say, it's this with Kaepernick, it's this with Tebow, it's this with Michael Sam. Unless you're a star and sometimes even if you are Antonio Brown, Cam Newton. If Cam can't be a backup in this league, he's too big of a star. And Johnny Mansell. So when I've watched the NFL for all these years, the one thing I always go back to, the media will try to marginalize stories. If you are seen, this is not the NBA.

You don't get tenure contracts like baseball, guaranteed deals like you get guaranteed money in the NFL, but not guaranteed deals. If people view you like Cam as a bit of a celebrity, you better be a franchise guy. They're not bringing in as a backup. That's just not the way. They want you to be Jacoby Brissette. he can be a backup. But even Garoppolo in New England, it was, you know, every bad loss,

it was a question about Garapolo. I don't think that's good for teams in this league. And so I think Cam's got a very small market. You either have to see him as a starter or it's over. I wouldn't bring him in as a backup. Just like I said, I would never bring Tim Tebow in as a backup. It just, you go in a two-game losing streak. That's why John Elway brought in Payton Manning.

John Elway's like, I can't limp into replacing Tebow. I got to go to a superstar. And so, you know, I said this about if you're not going to sign Dak, and Dak's the franchise guy for the Cowboys, bring in Brady. Because the story the next day is Brady, not Dak, didn't get a deal. But you, you, Cam is too big of a star to come in and be a backup. Is the microphones on a two-game losing streak are all going to go to Cam. And they're going to go to the coach.

This league, man, these coaches in the NFL, they, they have no interest. And if you're going to be a celebrity, you better be a star. and a starter. So I don't know what the market is for Cam. He's a depreciating asset. Accuracy's an issue. He's banged up. We got a medical issue. He's still pretty affordable, but you're not going to get him. Nobody's bringing him in as a backup. I just don't, the NFL, they don't do that. I mean, Tebow won games. Nobody wants him as a backup. I mean, Kaepernick's better than some of these backups. People aren't going to go with him as a backup. You can call it whatever you want. Find celebrity backups in this league. They just don't exist. They don't exist. They don't exist.

don't want it. It's hard enough to win games. Every game counts. Every field goal counts. Every turnover counts. These coaches, and maybe it's nonsense. Maybe it doesn't matter. They are all in this. No distractions. Belichick, the leading coach in the league, will not let his assistants talk. Why? He doesn't want him to say something, and it distract everybody for a day, him answering questions about what an offensive coordinator said. He won't let his assistants talk. Talk. So his whole thing is do your job, head down, no distractions. That's Belichick. So, I mean, they had Flash Gordon.

Seattle picked him up. They had Antonio Brown. Raiders picked him up. The minute he sensed could be a little bit of a distraction. Shoot, Belichick out. So I just, I don't see a robust market for Cam. I don't. Starter or done.

I also saw this. I like this story. Jeff Schwartz around the corner. Lance Zerline was on our show earlier this week. His dad was an offensive line coach in the NFL for Bruce Ariens in Arizona and in Tampa. So he has a mock draft and his mock draft is willing to roll the dice on trades. So Lance Zerline, very, very good. He's one of these guys.

He hosts a radio show like John Middle Coffin could be an NFL scout. He has Brough going number one to Miami. So he thinks Cincinnati's going to take a trade. I don't. He's got. Chase Young going two to the Washington Redskins, Chargers moving up to get two at three, Giants get an offensive tackle at four,

and Justin Herbert going to Cincinnati at five. I think it's the right move to make. I don't think Cincinnati will do it. They're conservative. It's not in their nature. They won't do it. They've had the number three pick three times, 94, 95. Cincinnati's had it three times, 94, 95,

2003, and they haven't moved off it. They've moved up to number one, but they haven't moved out of it. And Joe Burrell's from Ohio. They're not going to move out of it. But I would do it if I was Cincinnati. I would absolutely do it. But they won't. Cincinnati today could make a move on that, and they could get four draft picks.

They could get another number one, two-twos, maybe a four, three, and they won't do it. So I think Joe Burroughs career is going to be very limited. Baltimore is better up front than they were last year and they were good last year. Pittsburgh, it's going to be a best. better football team. Eric Ebron and Big Bennerback and their young defensive players, which they have many on defense are getting older. Minka Fitzpatrick now, a second year. I think Cleveland has gotten better. No question. Cleveland's gotten better. And I also think they're going to address left tackle, their primary issue and linebacker in this draft. Not a great,

it is a good linebacker draft. There's some good linebackers in this draft, and it's a good tackle draft, both the issues the Browns have. I think that division may be the best in the league. It's going to be the best defensive division in the league between the Steelers D, the Ravens D, and the Browns D. Joe Burrow with no help is going to struggle in Cincinnati. There is no fourth place team in the NFL that is further away talent-wise than the three teams above them than the Bengals. Because you can roll your eyes at the Browns. They got talent. Stefansky's better than Freddie Kitchens, and they're going to address in this draft the two issues they have. One of them tackle. They're going to go get a great starting Pro Bowl level left tackle potentially, and they're ready to roll.

Two backs, two receivers, two tight ends now. Cleveland's ready to roll. If Stefanski can be a head coach, Baker's absolutely going to be better this year. More focus, lose weight, better coaching. He's going to rebound. He's not my quarterback, but he is a franchise quarterback. So if I'm Cincinnati, I'd absolutely move out of here. What do we say about sports?

Who wins in sports these days? Aggressive teams. Houston goes and gets a Justin Burlander. Golden State goes and gets a Kevin Durant. I mean, who is winning in the NFL? You know, Baltimore goes out and gets a Marcus Peters and upgrades. And aggressive is winning in business. I mean, I was talking to a friend about this.

The UFC, Dana White, aggressive. Vince McMahon, WWE, aggressive. Barstool Sports, hyper alpha aggressive. You may not like them. Aggressive is winning in media. It's winning in NFL. it's winning in the NBA. Cincinnati, be aggressive, make yourself uncomfortable, get five picks, go a few slots down and get a Justin Herbert or a Tua, and get five good draft picks,

which will be four or five starters. Because if you're just going to bring in Joe Burrow and just going to play it safe, he is going to get mulled in that division. Cleveland's defensive front is nasty, Baltimore's is better, and Pittsburgh's front seven is young. It's San Francisco. It really is without Bosa. It's San Francisco. It is loaded and it's young. Joe Burrow is going to get mauled potentially. I'd move and get picks.

Just my opinion. I'd rather have Herbert with five draft picks, additional draft picks, than Joe Burrow without him. Because Justin Herbert with five draft picks, you know, a tackle, a running back, another tight end, a receiver is going to be a lot better than Burrow without him. That division now. Now, if you've seen all the moves Baltimore has made, they're going to make another one today reportedly. Cleveland, Pittsburgh, they've all gotten better.

And Big Ben's coming back. And Baker will be better. And Lamar, by the way. Look at the jump he made year one to two. What's Lamar going to be year two to three? That division's scary good. Scary good. Aggressive win, Cincinnati.

Go for it. Have some guts. First time in a long time. Jeff Schwartz around the corner. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. By the way, the new CBA, the new CBA

allows the owners in the NFL to open sports books. Today's health concerns more important than ever to take care of your body. MDrive Elite, go to mDriveferman.com code herd. Refind your prime, 20% off your first month. Jeff Schwartz, former NFL offensive lineman,

brother Mitchell's a Pro Bowl lineman for the Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs. I don't know if you noticed that, Jeff, but NFL owners in the new CBA, sports books now can be open in stadiums. Do you see that? Yeah, of course I did. I have like,

when this thing first passed when they were appealed the Supreme Court did. I started talking to friends about, like, I want to get in this business of putting the kiosk in the stadium. This makes so much money. Yeah. It's been incredible. Yeah. The, um, so you're in Carolina.

Thoughts on the Cam Newton market. And why did they just basic, you know, are they going to do a Todd Gurley and just cut him and release him? Well, they're going to have to, I think. I think what to hold up with Cam right now is that you can't get a proper physical. I mean, Tom Brady is the only guy who's officially signed on any team right now because he must have gone its physical done privately, and he's healthy in Tampa just took the word of a doctor that did it.

But I think Cam's biggest issue is that you just can't get him checked on. And because of his injury history, teams are going to want their doctors to look at him, their trainers to look at him. And you just can't do that right now. So I do think it's going to be outright have to be released at some point. And, you know, most Panther fans, I think, are on board because of the higher of that rule and the son of Teddy Bridgewater. I think that people are upset that this went down the way it did with the Panthers

basically announcing that they were doing this in collaboration with Cam. And then Cam went back at them saying that that wasn't true. I think they're upset with the way it went down. and also that they basically paraded Cam around as a guy that was going to be part of the franchise when Matt Rule signed, which are all, I think, valid criticisms

of the way this might have gone down, but make the mistake, as soon as Ron Rivera was fired, Cam was gone. I said it right when it happened. I wrote about it, tweeted about it. He's not, you know, it all tied to Matt Rule. He's not tied to David Tepper, the new owner,

and this was going to happen. I just don't know when they're officially going to, you know, get to move on. It's sometimes who replaces you in life, says a lot about who you are. Teddy Bridgewater, to me, is the anti-cam. An adult-focused, limited physically, very few mistakes, highly coachable, never, never needy, and not distracted. It's almost if Bridgewater is a sign of the culture change, which is all business, grown-ups,

you want to be a fashion icon, we're not the place for you. Could I read into it that? I think in any NFL higher, they tend to be the opposite of what you just had. So especially a big position, right? So, you know, typically coaches are the exact opposite. Ron Rivera was a defensive old school coach. Matt Ruhl is an offensive guy, new school progressive. You know, Cam Noon is everything that you said.

He loves the fashion. He likes being an icon. He's, you know, he celebrates. He's outspoken. He does great things in the community as well. Don't want to forget about that. But Teddy Bridgewater is the opposite, right? very quiet, very reserved.

You mentioned he's not as athletically gifted, and he just kind of goes about his business very quietly. So I don't know if it's a sign that they're transitioning to something else as far as we would be more business-like, but it's just not Cameroon, right? It's the opposite of what he's been. And I'm interested to see how the fan base enjoys it here. The fans love Cam Moon.

I think most of them did. There's obviously some that will hate on him no matter what. And I'm excited to see Joe Brady work with, with Bridgewater. Bridgewater does not really fit the offense that they ran at LSU. Obviously, he fits what they did with the same. Even with the same, they changed the

offense. Shorter passes, a lot of boo-lets, a lot of movement out-of-pocket, screens, play action passes. So we'll just see how they design the offense for Bridgewater. You know, it's interesting. When you played in the NFL yesterday, basically, the Rams just said, we're getting out of the Todd Gurley business.

We'll take the 20 million, which tells you what we had been reporting, which is this thing was uncomfortable in the building. He got hurt. He got his money. And he kind of changed. He just wasn't as committed. I mean, for a team, for a team to move off a guy, they owe $20 million to. Have you ever in your career with the Vikings, Chiefs, Giants, and Panthers? You don't even have to name him if you don't want. Was there ever a player that was just just not good for the locker room and a team, you thought he was talented and the team said, we're out? I mean, there's been, I wasn't on the team when some of the changes were made on a team that I had played on.

I think that, you know, Steve Smith didn't get along with some of the people in the Panthers. But I will say, though, I got along with five with Steve. Most of the veterans did. John Fox did. But he didn't get along with Ed Gettelman. And that obviously was a problem. Gettlement was the general manager. Gettlement got rid of him.

We've seen at times some of these general managers, you know, with Bill O'Brien. if he doesn't like someone, he's out. And so I don't know if that's a bett example because only one guy really didn't like him and that was Dan Gettleman. Everyone else seemed to enjoy playing with him and working with him. So that's what it is sometimes. You have one guy in the building that doesn't like you and you move on. But here's what deal calling.

It's just, it's going on this. You can't pay running backs a second contract. You just can't do it. And I love running best. I played with great ones. Adrian Peterson and Jamal Schaul. Charles. They're great. They made my career. I loved it. But you just can't do it. You can't. You cannot build your team around a high-paid money. But when you go find yourself, you know, Darrell Henderson, who they got from Memphis. He'd be just fine in their office. They don't need to have Todd Gurley. And so that is, that's on the Rams.

They didn't see the trend coming of how they're paying these guys and what happens, you know, what's happened to their bodies. And I think they're trying to eventually they're making a mistake with Derek Henry, too. You know, it's funny. Darius Slay, the Eagles are really well-run franchise, go get Darius Slay. The Lions are really bad franchise, let him go. And, you know, I was saying this. I don't have sympathy for bad NFL teams. I mean, the New York Jets last year had a general manager who was incompetent, retained him for the draft, he butchered it outside of the first pick,

and then they fired him. Like, I don't feel bad for Cleveland, or the Jets, who I do think now, have a good GM and Joe Douglas. I don't feel bad for Detroit. Matt Patricia is not a head coach. I don't believe he is. Did you ever work for a team? Because I think Philadelphia is well run.

They went out and got slay and I'm like, I think they're as good as anybody in the NFC now, including, you know, as long as they can stay healthy. Did you ever play for a team that you thought was poorly run? You can say it now. Poorly run. I mean, I played on so many teams. I was with the lines, actually, when Jim Caldwell was there.

I thought Jim was a great head coach. I don't have enough time there to really know how they were run. Look, I played with the Giants who I thought at times, you know, the Eric Flowers draft pick didn't go very well. But Odell went well, right? So, you know, I think the Giants are very well run. I thought it the Chiefs, right, when Andy Reid got there. I mean, you know, we went from 2 and 14 to 11 and 5 and made the playoffs.

So I can't say there was poorly run there. I mean, there was a time in Carolina when, you know, and this was the circumstance with the uncapped year in 2010, where Mr. Richardson, the owner just got rid of everyone. It was a tank job before we kind of called a tanking. But again, I don't know if that's because they're poorly run or that was the plan was to suck. And we were. We got Cam Noon.

And they re-signed a bunch of guys when the new CBA was ratified in 2011. But it's tough as a player when you don't think the front office has your best interest in money. That was the way in 2010. I mean, they forced Jimmy Clausen to play when he wasn't ready to play. And it's tough as a player to know your front office is not really. trying to win and kind of doing things contrary to what you believe. And we're the walk of every day. We know who's good and who's not good.

The players do. And you get a lot of animosity built up with a front office when they're just kind of injecting themselves. And you know kind of certainly they're not trying to win or they don't know what they're doing. Yeah, it's interesting. You mentioned Eric Flowers' Giants Left Tackle, who somebody just signed him the other day. Was that Miami? Yeah, Miami did. It's funny.

You said you know. who can play and who can't. It's, you know, the NFL draft, 30% of the first round will whiff or underachieve. Belichick's a genius. The last pro bowler he drafted on offense was gronk. How many guys in an NFL locker room as we get ready for the draft in late April? How many guys in an NFL locker room would you say on average really can't play? Oh, you know, not a lot because here's why.

if you are drafted anywhere below the third round, let's say, if you can't play, you're off the team. Like, they're not keeping you on the team. But if you're a first or second round drafting and you can't play, you're going to stay on the team at least for three years. You know, you get more leeway as a first or second round draft. So there really is not a lot of guys who can't play because they're gone. You know, a lot of your team is a coach of guys, you know, third, fourth, fifth, six, seven, undraftsrafts for agents. It's the top guys, the first and second round guys that most often stay on the team long. longer who can't play.

And those are the guys, you're like, yeah, that guy can't play, but we know he's on the team because of his salaries. I would say that most guys are there. Yeah, they can play. But it's those top-level guys, you know, four or five on the team, maybe, maybe two, if the team drafts really well, that play because of other drafts a lot. Jeff Schwartz, he likes his gambling. His brother Mitchell plays for the Chiefs.

The new CBA says owners can open sports books. Have you talked to Mitchell much since he won the last? the Super Bowl? How are, I mean, it's, did it, now what's, like, what, does how good a shape, we talk about the NBA season, the NFL got kind of a timing break, perhaps, on the virus? Does your brother, did, does he take a month off after that beating of the NFL season? Oh, yeah. Yeah, he, he was planning to go to Europe, I think about right now, it's obviously he can't do. He was going to start really working out again after. It was funny. I talked to him, right for the Super Bowl, obviously. I'm like, how you feel it? I'm, I'm ready for

this to be over. I mean, your body just gets to a point where, and also, both, you know, of that week is very emotional, right? You know, the Monday night, the crazy opening night staying in the media all the time and whatnot. I just think your body just wears down. Obviously, he was fabulous in the Super Bowl, was the highest grader player by Pro Football Focus. He had a great postseason,

but your body just gets beat up. And that's why the 17th game thing, it's just, it's not good for football. I mean, it's great. Look, we'll watch every second of it. We'll gamble on it. We'll enjoy his fans, but it's not good for football. We're going to see more injuries, more head injuries, more bodies wearing down. I think

shorter careers. It's just not good for the players. Yeah. Jeff, good talking to you. Same here, buddy. Take care. Yeah. You know, it's if you look at, because I, ideally, I understand 17 games. I don't think it's the end of the world. It's 6%, 6.2% added competition.

But if you look at most of the problems in sports, they're all owner-driven. It's all greed-driven. I mean, you could take four teams out of Major League Baseball. It's nothing against Tampa. It's a great NFL city. It's a great college football city. You could take Major League Baseball out of Oakland. You could take it out of Tampa.

You know, I mean, Pittsburgh right now, they're not competitive. You could take three or four teams. Just boom, it doesn't work. There's no salary cap. When I laugh at when I hear all these cities that want a baseball team, like we want to expand. You know, I mean, Seattle's a wealthy American city. It's the home of Microsoft, Microsoft, Amazon's the world's leading retailer, Starbucks.

I mean, these are massive global companies, and they can't keep up with the Yankees and the Dodgers and the Red Sox. You could just cut four major league teams to six out today. It should be for the Houston's and, you know, big, you know, Texas Rangers, Houston. and that's enough in that state, you know. Mets, Yankees, Dodgers. But NBA, I mean, why Canada, Vancouver, it lasted an hour. I mean, Toronto was a great story. But, you know, and I look at the problems we have in sports

with the NFL going to 17 games. I'm okay with it, but 16, we should have less hitting. The preseason in the NFL should be two games max. I don't think you need a lot of padded practices after mid-September. You know, every other week have won. So when I see the problems in sports, I think the athletes are wonderful.

They're mostly hardworking, committed to their communities and teammates. I think there's a bunch of good coaches, and I love where sports is at. Much like America, when you have senators selling stock as they get coronavirus updates before the public, that stuff's disgusting.

And I think most billionaires are very good people. I think there's a lot more Bill Gates that are helping society, Warren Buffets that are lubricating it than agitating it. But if I had to make 10 corrections in sports, they're mostly all things owners have done for more money when they were swimming in cash before it. Some final thoughts. If you did not hear Phil Sims earlier, he was stupendous.

We'll have that coming up. Here is veteran newsman. And he's French. Jean Goulet. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Colin, we have a little bit of breaking news.

What? The Broncos and running back Melvin Gordon have agreed to a two-year $16 million deal, 13.5 million guaranteed. Okay. What is the team I have said is going to be the most improved next year in the week? You were big on the Broncos. Okay, so now they've added another running back. They're all in.

seven and nine with two they got robbed against the bears by the officials a couple of other last second losses and they started picking up fangio's defense late i'm telling you that a gerald casey who's a very good defensive lineman this Denver is back baby uh this deal makes a lot of people online are kind of saying it might be a little bit of an overpay there wasn't much of a market for melvin gordon but i would say the two year deal makes a lot of sense to me they're currently not paying their quarterback he's on a rookie deal that's right Their tandem running backs, by the way, right now is Philip Lindsay and Melvin Gordon. They're not paying Philip Lindsay yet. He's on a rookie deal. And their top receiver, Cortland Sutton, he's on a rookie deal.

And they just got rid of Harris, the corner. Right. So they're really looking at like, hey, this is a two-year deal. We can overpay because we don't have to pay these other guys yet. It makes a lot of sense. And that is a scary backfield of Philip Lindsay and Melvin Gordon. Von Miller, Bradley Chubble comeback. How about that?

Yikes. I'm telling you, Denver is on the rise. And they're old school defensive head coach. So what are they going to want to do? Run the ball, play defense, let their young quarterback just make simple throws. Makes a lot of sense. They're going to make me look smart. They are, but now everyone's going to hop on the bandway.

Yeah, way late. This guy had it. Wake, take out. Speaking of running back, sitting deals. After being cut on Thursday, former Rams running back, Todd Gurley, has signed a one-year deal with the Falcons happened very quickly. A lot of people thought he'd be a free agent for a little while. Falcons had just cut their starter

Devante Freeman earlier. Gurley played for Georgia in college, so it's a bit of a homecoming. Only 25 years old. He's not washed up. No, no, no. He can still play. He does not have the cutback ability he did because of the injury. But first of all, he's a good receiver. And Todd's a good receiving back.

And he's a B-plus running back now. But this is not Gurley being shot. You can still give Todd Gurley 140 carries. And I think he's underutilized in the ram system as a receiver. I thought last year, maybe it was because he wasn't practicing as much. I think he's a very good pass catching back. In 2017, he was the offensive player of the year. So it wasn't, and remember in 2018, he was really good up until the second half of the season.

They started using C.J. Anderson. Remember, that's when they started not using him as much. We thought they were saving him. He really wasn't. So you're talking it not even two years ago. He was still arguably the best running back in the league. And because the Rams didn't use him as much, there isn't as much wear and tear on him as there probably should have been. So they could easily get something out of him. Plus, they're only paying him, the Falcons, that is, $6 million. So a one-year $6 million deal for them, that's nothing. That's nothing.

That's totally worth the rest to see if he has anything left. And finally, we have the details of Tom Brady's contract with the bucks. Tasty, I imagine. It is a two-year, $50 million deal. That is all guaranteed. There are also $4.5 million each year available in Insleeves. incentives. He cannot be traded. And he included a clause that means they cannot franchise tag him after the two years. Okay. That's a little interesting because that implies that he doesn't think he's going to be done necessarily at the end of the deal.

He didn't let, he didn't want the Patriots to franchise him either. So what he's basically doing is he's committing to Tampa for two seasons. And he's not necessarily saying he's going to be done after that. He might want to hit free agency again if there's still anything left. Now, maybe he wants to stay there and take a cheaper deal to help Cap Space. Who knows? But it clearly looks like he plans on potentially playing more than two seasons. How about that? John Gouliab with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. John, I just got a text. I have to answer from a highly coveted NFL source. So as you're prone to do, while I have to take a 45-second break from entertaining America, if you could kickstart the music, John. This is a top executive leaning on me for vital information.

Are you his source? Okay, I'm done elevating another NFL franchise. I'm telling you, my shoulders are so sore from caring NFL executives. Some daunting experience. But I'm up for it. Phil Sims!

Some thoughts from him next on a crazy week. Live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Sunday on FS1, Dale Jr., Joey Lugano, and Denny Hamlin compete in the E-Nascar Pro Invitational, a racing simulation that's as real as you can get. Watch the race live on FS1 and download the Fox Bet Super 6 app for a chance to play along at home and win cash and prizes. Colin, I don't know if you've seen this before, but this E-Racing stuff they do, it looks

literally like a real race. They did one last weekend and they had real drivers doing the simulation and if you're not paying attention as much, like it looks real. So FS1 is going to air this and there are real drivers driving the not real cars.

That's fascinating. Yes. And we're going to have our announcers call the race too. Like Jeff Gordon and Mike Joy are going to call the race like a regular race. That is fascinating. It should be fun. Phil Sims on earlier today. I'll put him on the podcast. We talked for over 20 minutes.

He was just terrific. We've had Rick Buecker, Jeff Schwartz, Phil Sims, Mike Sando from the athletic NFL writer. And, you know, I asked Phil, I said, how many games have you done? You've been in those production meetings 100 times or so with Tom Brady. Have you ever noticed in the last year, you know, Tom was frustrated with the situation in Foxborough?

Patient from him at all, but I have to admit, you know, that this past two years, I have felt that just by reading the paper, watching their games, seeing their offense, and everything. And, yeah, you could just feel it. They can go to the OTAs. That is just something that probably irked Bill Belichick more than anything else that could go on. That would be something Bill Belichick could just be going, man, that's just not right. For the record, I think, where we really saw it last year was there was a game last year

when he was screaming at his receivers to get open and separate. I think, you know, it's not a coincidence that Tampa and the Chargers both have great weapons were the final two spots he chose from. He just got tired of carrying the team. Phil also, I'm so glad he said this, is pushing back on those saying, you know, Tom Brady, you know, his arm is shot. I hear people on TV. His arm is not as good. What are you watching? His arm might be better now than it's ever been in his career.

Yes, yes. He might run a 5-3-40 or whatever it was, but he dances in the pocket like he's 4 or 5. And, you know, there's very few quarterbacks in the league that have them have it as good as he does. Deshaun Watson. Great feet, man. He's like a dancer back there. And Tom Brady is still that way.

You watch him. I've seen highlights of him from last year, and I look at him. I just go, man, he can just move around that pocket like he's a ballet dancer. And that is something that I don't know why more quarterbacks don't emulate now. Yeah, Brady really does. He's able to set his feet and reset his feet and move and reset his feet. Drew Breeze is great at that. Some, it's remarkable how many quarterbacks are not good at that.

It takes a lot of time. You know, Phil Sims also was the quarterback under Bill Parcells, Brady under Belichick. And there was recently, I watched the 30 for 30 called the two bills. I watched it Sunday or Monday. night. And there is, there's a warmth to Parcells. You've got to dig a while to get it, but I don't sense a ton of warmth with Belichick. And I think in the end, Tom made more than a handful of subtle acknowledgments that, you know, his documentary, he just wanted to have a little more fun. And Phil Sims talked about, you know, because he was in New York when Belichick and Parcells were both there. He always wants to feel a little love from the coach, but that's just not in Bill's makeup.

You know, it's not that he goes out of his way to try to be the way you explained. I just think that's who he naturally is. You know, he's a pragmatic guy. Bill Parcells wasn't warm and fuzzy, that's for sure. But every once in a while, he would walk by you and tap you on the shoulder and go, hey, I just want you to know you're doing great, son, and just walk on by. And, oh, my God, you'd feel like a million dollars. I must be doing great for Bill.

to say something nice about me. Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's the little stuff. I used to have a boss. He passed away this past year. Larry Kentop. It was my first job out of college. Las Vegas stars. They gave me one inning of play-by-play.

It was my first break. And I had to sell a bunch of commercials and stuff and, you know, little flyers and outdoor billboards for a minor league baseball team. And Larry, you know, Don Logan and Larry gave me that job. And Larry used to always say that. He's like when I was, he was a former baseball coach at Gonzaga University in Spokane. And Larry said that. I never forgot it.

He said, you know, when you're criticizing the guy, you put your arm around him and at the same time kick him in the butt. Is that you want to make people know, I like you, but I got to deliver some bad news. And I don't think Belichick adds the warmth as often. I mean, people said he could be funny. But I think Tom's kind of a, Brady's kind of a loving family guy. and I think at times, you know, Belichick acknowledged, quote, a little shocked, unquote, that Brady left. I don't think he can be. I think you have to look and I think New England's going to have some issues coming back.

I don't think they're going to bounce back as quickly as a lot of the people in the New England region think. They don't have a quarterback. They haven't drafted particularly well. And it's not a system. Tom carried the torch for that culture. You don't have the next Tom. Forget the physical part. You don't have the psychological and the emotional part with Brady sacrificing millions, tens of millions of dollars for years.

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If we didn't talk ever again, I was crying. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to him, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

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