March 2, 2021 • 36 mins
Colin reveals the real reason JJ Watt decided to join the Arizona Cardinals that everyone else is missing. He also shares his NFL quarterback tiers and why Dak Prescott seems to be turning into “Delusional Dak”. Colin discusses the rise of Zion Williamson and argues he’s currently the 3rd most popular player in the NBA right now. Plus, Colts LB Darius Leonard joins the show to talk about the expectations for his new QB Carson Wentz.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Are
you sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve
to three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The
Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd.
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern
on Fox Sports Radio. Oh here we go on a Tuesday.
(00:28):
We're live in Los Angeles. This show is called The Herd.
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening
Fox Sports Radio, iHeartRadio at f S one, it is
good to have you in today. All sorts of things happening.
JJ Watt yesterday middle of our show decided to move
(00:49):
his act and his talent to Arizona, and Joey Taylor
and I were in the woe stage and the wild
stage and didn't see that common stage. We're so often
surprised by where stars go. Joy, how are you? I'm
Great's but a really wild NFL offseason so far, and
it actually hasn't really even officially started. It's amazing how
(01:11):
many stars the transaction business in the NFL. Stafford jj
Watt Carson, I want to talk about this. So there
was a story out there yesterday. It was down to
Buffalo in Arizona, two different culture cities fan bases, and
apparently somebody in Buffalo reporter had talked to a former
Texans coach and they criticized JJ Watt. They said, quote,
(01:35):
he's selfish, only cared about his stats. He does a
lot of things that hurt the defense. I wouldn't want him.
He cared. He hurt us sometimes more than he helped us.
So what you're saying is he a little rogue that's
been the knock on in Dominican zoo for years. He's
a little bit of a you know, doing his own thing,
a little bit of a freelancer. For the record, i've
(01:55):
heard a little bit of that with jj Watt a
little bit now this morning. It's interesting if I lined
up and this goes along the lines of what like
the big sports betting companies think. If I looked at
the NFC West this morning, I would take the Rams
to win the division. They won ten games last year
with Jared Goff. I think Matt Stafford's worth a win.
I'd have the Rams winning the NFC West at eleven
(02:17):
to five. I would have San Francisco if Jimmy Garoppolo
is healthy. If he's healthy, battling them for second place.
I'm selling some of my stock on Seattle, but they
have Russell Wilson, so I'd pick him third. In Arizona
fourth not a shot, but it's the best division in football.
So JJ Watt did not choose the best team in
his own division. He didn't choose the best roster in
(02:41):
his own division. He didn't choose the best Super Bowl
odds in his own division. He picked probably the fourth
best coach in a division. Some would argue the fourth
best quarterback in his division. He didn't choose an area
that was closer to home. Arizona was fourth in sacks
(03:05):
last year. He didn't choose a place where he'd have
the greatest impact. It may just be this easy. J J.
Watt chose the place that was best for him and
his wife Kalia. When that's it. She's a pro athlete,
he's a pro athlete. They don't have to have a
second home with warm weather. They can go train in
(03:26):
the off season. This is a good place to play
some golf, drinks, some Margharita's in the off season and
he and his wife can train together outdoors in their
beautiful house. Matt Stafford, by the way, was on the
market many suitors. He chose the Rams, which is the
toughest division in football. Why we found out you're just
(03:46):
like He liked Los Angeles. He had a home here,
he liked the weather. Off seasons are easier. He's kind
of worn out from Michigan winners. I mean, he grew
up in Texas, played at Georgia. He was tired of
the winners. Think about where the Stars choose. Ad chose
Brooklyn Kawhi chose the Clippers. Tom Brady chose the Buccaneers.
(04:11):
As you age, things that were less important become really important.
Think about the final two choices for JJ Watt on
one shoulder as a little Buffalo bill, Hey, we are
a player away from the super Bowl. You are gonna
win the division and the airside was it was a
(04:35):
little devil and he was wearing Arizona colors and he's like,
it is Buffalo. You're gonna have to have a second home.
Does your wife only want to live in Buffalo to
jump on tables? And it's kind of crazy. Arizona's more
laid back. You can golf in the off season, you
can golf in the season. Think about the two places
that were the final places. He probably felt guilty a
(05:00):
little bit for choosing Arizona, so he concludes Buffalo because
that was as Join and I talked about. That's the
place where he can Literally, they're gonna win their division
next year. They feel like they're a pass rush away
from the super Bowl. Tennessee doesn't, Green Bay doesn't. Necessarily
they already had a pretty good pass rush. So the
final two places came down to one place where it
made total football sense, and they finished second to the
(05:21):
place that didn't make really any football sense. And that's okay.
We tend to in the media try to figure out
what the best place for the athlete is he fits
the scheme, hey the division and Lebron James chose Miami
they weren't good when he got there, and the Lakers
(05:42):
they were terrible when he got there. Both cities for
a kid that grew up in Akron, a lot of
sex appeal, a lot of fun. You can get free
agents to come and play there. We're always trying to
figure out where players are gonna go. We're almost always
wrong in my gut feeling this morning. And I've moved
four different times to different places. I think, Joe, you've
(06:04):
moved three or four different times. It's never you get
that yellow notepad out. And I guarantee that JJ Watt
did with his wife Kayleia, and they wrote down stuff,
and we'd be wrong in all the guesses. And I'm
here to tell you, I bet some of it was this.
Cliff Kingsbury has a reputation. He doesn't grind players at practice.
(06:25):
He's very Sean McVeagh. JJ Watson Hall of Famer. Does
he want to grind at practice? JJ Watt shows up
on Sunday and kicks your rs. He didn't need to
grind at practice. You don't want to get hurt at practice?
You mean I put that one down? Where did my
wife and I in the off season? You know you
live in a cold place. You gotta have a second
home in Arizonia, don't so all those little things you
(06:47):
write down on a list as we age. You know,
when I was twenty, professional success was everything. I'm fifty.
I'm more into my kid's success, like pro athletes are
the same. Kaded to Brooklyn Kawhite of the Clippers braided
the buck and he's JJ Watt to Arizona. It may
have just been as simple as I'm married. Now the
off seasons matter now. Money's good enough and winning. If
(07:12):
it happens, great. If it doesn't, I still make the
Hall of Fame, and that's okay too, all right. So
I saw this story. Jane Slater is a reporter. I
trust she is talking. Her sources are telling her. Yesterday
the Dan Patrick Show on how Dak is not budging
on his salary demands. There's money was in the ballpark
(07:36):
of Russell Wilson slash Jared Goff type money. Now he's
looking to be paid right behind Patrick Mahomes a guy
who's gone to the super Bowl two years in a row.
Dak hasn't done that yet, so they feel like it's
been a respectable offer. His camp believes that he needs
to bear what the market value is, and they feel
like this deals should have gotten done two years ago.
(07:57):
So your problems with money aren't our problems. It's about respect.
If you trust that report, and I do, is it possible?
Devoted and dependable Deck has become delusional Deck, So let's
pretend we'll play game here. The quarterbacks were paid in
order based on two things. Now, talent's obviously a big deal,
(08:21):
but I think it's actually second place to how valuable
you are, because I've seen Bill Belichick give up a
lot of talented players. He rarely gives up valuable players.
In fact, our sports leagues all have awards called most
valuable Player. None of them have most talented player. Joy.
And I've been in this business for thirty years. Companies
move on from talented people all the time, valuable people,
(08:44):
and I'll move on from valuable people. So if you
were paid based on your talent and how valuable you
are to me, there's three tiers. The first tier is
four guys, Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Josh Allen.
And let me describe each. Seattle runs an anequated offense.
(09:06):
Pete Carroll was fired twice and had a losing record
in Seattle before Russell Wilson. What is Seattle offensively without
Russell Wilson. Tom Brady not only moves your team in
the right direction, he gives you super Bowls. At the end,
he changed a goofy buccaneer franchise into a place. Now
we argue everybody wants to play. Aaron Rodgers doesn't give
(09:28):
you many super Bowls, but Green Bay has historically been
awful when he doesn't play. And then Josh Allen. Josh
Allen's their best running back, He's their best running weapon,
he's their best throwing weapon on a historically last twenty
years in that franchise. They're now a super Bowl conversation team.
The second tier, and I know what you're saying, Patrick Mahomes, Well,
(09:49):
Annie Reid has thirteen playoff wins without Patrick Mahomes. Two
years ago they beat the playoff Kings without Patrick Mahomes
and should have beaten the Packers. The Kansas City Chiefs
were a good franchise forever without Patrick Mahomes and with
all their weapons today, if Patrick Mahomes was not the
Chiefs quarterback, I believe we saw it with Alex Smith,
(10:12):
they'd be a playoff team. So the second tier. Patrick
Mahomes is a mega talent, but not quite as valuable
as the verse four. Deshaun Watson again mega talent, but
he went four and twelve this year. It oh by
the way, Bill O'Brien won that division with Brock Osweiler.
Look it up. I did. I don't remember it, but
it happened. Lamar Jackson is damn good, but Baltimore won
(10:36):
a lot of games in the Super Bowl without him,
and then Jimmy Garoppolo. I know what you're saying. Come on, Colin,
Kyle Shanahan is a great coach. Has won twenty five
percent of his NFL games without Kyle, without Jimmy Garoppolo.
I'm sorry, I hurt your feelings. That's called valuable. Everybody
else in the NFL is Tier three, pretty talented, sometimes valuable.
(11:01):
Let's remember that in the last seventeen starts, Dak Prescott
is six and eleven. They were five and five with
Andy Dalton last year, if you count the game he
came in initially and led them do a win against
the New York Giants. They were behind, Dak got hurt,
he came in and won. He was Dak was eight
(11:23):
and eight in twenty nineteen, six and eleven as last
seventeen starts, and in games he started and finished last year,
he was one in three Andy Dalton, if you count
the game he replaced Dak against the Giants was five
and five. Now Dak's better than Andy Dalton. I am
not in any way insinuating he is not. But if
(11:44):
Dak is saying this morning, I'm worth Patrick Mahomes money,
I'm gonna struggle with that. And I like Dak, but
that's dependable devoted Dak to delusional Dak. You'd got a
kind to know if you go into on track negotiations,
you got to you gotta kind of know the temperature
(12:06):
in the room. To me, there's four guys that are
tier one. They can kind of name their price. There's
another four or five guys, maybe even more talented, but
don't quite feel as valuable to the franchise. Garoppolo would
be the opposite. I don't think he's a mega talent,
but I think he's super valuable to San Francisco everybody else.
(12:29):
It's kind of tier three obviously, a Dak maybe a
higher tier three or a Matt Ryan. And you know,
Baker's probably somewhat valuable. But if that's true, he sees
himself as Mahomes money class. Maybe that's why Jerry Jones
(12:49):
may franchise them again. That may be the reason. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and
noon Easter nine a Empacific on Fox Sports Radios one
and the iHeartRadio app. Hey, what's up everybody? It's me
three time pro bowler Levarrington and I couldn't be more
excited to announce a new podcast called Up on Game?
(13:10):
What is Up on Game? You asked, along with my
fellow pro bowler t J. Hudshman's OTTA and Super Bowl champion. Yep,
that's right, Plexico Birds. You can only name a show
with that type of talent on it. Up on Game
We're going to be sharing our real life experiences loaded
with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with Me,
(13:32):
LeVar Arrington, t J. Hushman's Outa, and Plexico Birds on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your
podcast from. It's rare in professional sports, at least in
this country, where somebody who becomes iconic is a late
bloomer or we don't really know about him early, and
(13:54):
all of a sudden we figure out, Wow. I mean,
you know, we talked about Lebron at sixteen, Bryce Harper
at seventeen, Tiger Woods at thirteen. That's just kind of
the reality of how it works. There very few late
bloomers become a face of the league. Now you could say, oh,
Patrick Mahomes, but all football players go to three or
(14:15):
four years of college, and by the end of his
first year there were rumors he was amazing, and by
his second year in the league he became really, really,
really the most talked about quarterback in the NFL not
named Tom Brady or maybe Aaron Rodgers. So Mahomes is
not a late bloomer, but it's interesting. Zion Williamson watched
him last night again. He's getting better every game. The
best team in the NBA so far has been the
(14:36):
Utah Jazz, and he was dominant last night again. I
would make the argument today that Zion Williamson is the
second or third most popular player in the NBA. I
think Lebron and Steph Curry go back and forth. I
think Steph is very relatable to young kids because he's
small like young kids, where Lebron looks just so monstrous
(14:56):
and big. I think Lebron and Staff are the two
most popular players in the I think Zion's already number three.
Katie and Harden are great, but their personalities are a
little odd. Jannis and Kawhi are quiet, not necessarily dynamic personalities.
But have you noticed anything. Utah's the number one team
in the league. The NBA's not rushing to put them
on TV. The NBA didn't rush to put New Orleans
(15:17):
on TV when they had Anthony Davis. Is anybody noticing
how ESPN and TNT are fighting to get Zion Williamson
on television. It reminds me when Tim Tebow was in
the NFL. I was told by an executive that Tebo
articles on Sunday night after the games were getting five
and six times like the Patriot articles with Brady or
(15:38):
the Giants articles with Eli. I think the NBA's found
their next face in the league, and I think it's Zion.
And I think he's already the third most popular player.
I remember a couple of years ago, it may have
been five or six years ago, and I've said this
on the air with Joy several times. When sixty Minutes
came out and said Yannis is the face of the league,
I'm like, I didn't know who he was until like
(15:59):
year three in the NBA. Zion has three things that
are really really important. Number One, he played at Duke
and his shoe exploded and there was controversy around him.
So we knew him as a teenager. I didn't know
Yannis till I didn't know Kawhi until he'd been in
the league like three years. I didn't know Yannis. It's
one thing for Bryce Harper, who he's in the minors
(16:21):
and I knew him in high school. It's another thing
like we didn't talk about Mike Trout and then he
went to the Angels and he had to be great
before we talked about him being great. We talked about
Bryce Harper being great in the eight bigs when he
was in high school. So Zion played at Duke. That's
why I've always defended college basketball. It's a good platform.
NBA should use it more, and we knew who he
(16:42):
was early plus the Internet his dunks. Secondly is his
game is not only dynamic, it doesn't look like anybody
else's game. I remember when Magic Johnson came into the NBA.
There's never been a six eight and a half point guard.
He didn't even look like other guards. Magic had I'd
have a funky shot. He didn't shoot like anybody else.
(17:03):
He didn't play like anybody else. Zion's game doesn't look
like anybody else's game. And number three, his personality like magic.
He's likable, he smiles, He wanted to play when a
shoe exploded. He wanted to come back to college basketball,
but he said, all my agents and stuff said I
probably need to go pro. I'd love to come back
and play college basketball. I think he's the third most
(17:25):
popular guy in the league. We knew him early. His
game is crazy and crazy different, and I find the
guy incredibly likable. That's not that James Harden isn't likable.
He's a little odd. Kawhi is quiet. I mean, Janis
We didn't kind of figure him out till later. And
his game is good, but there's holes in it and
(17:47):
it's I don't find it terribly dynamic, although there are
moments when he makes great plays. But if you look
at how hard the NBA is working to get Zion
on television, that tells you everything. They're looking at data
and they're looking at research, and he is jumping and
popping off the charts. They're not doing that with Kauai.
(18:10):
I mean, they're not Dame Lillard's great. They're not doing
that with the Trailblazers. They didn't do it with A
d and the Pelicans. They're not doing it with John Morant.
They're doing it with historically irrelevant New Orleans and Zion.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week
days and noon Easter Nini Empacific. I don't go to Facebook,
but people that do they always talk about kind of
the Facebook effect where a lot of affairs start on Facebook,
(18:33):
where you know, guys look up their high school flame
or college flame, or women look up their high school
flame or college flame. And that's because your memories are
greater than reality. There's a reason you dumped him and
then married somebody else and had beautiful kids, is that
your memories are much greater than reality. People generally don't
(18:53):
remember pain. They often say that's why women have multiple children,
because they don't remember how painful sometimes childbirth can be.
You don't remember the pain. You remember the good times
in relationships too, And so I don't go to Facebook.
But that's the effect of it. Now, I was thinking
about Dak Prescott, who now wants to be paid like
Patrick Mahomes. Let's talk about not the memories, Let's talk
(19:14):
about the reality of Dak. These are all facts, not opinions.
Last seventeen starts, he's six and eleven. Fourteen of his wins,
that's a lot of wins have come against Washington and
the Giants rebuilding seven and two against one, seven and
one against the other. Last four years, majority of his
wins against those two crappy teams. And in twenty nineteen
(19:34):
another reality, end of the year to get into the
playoffs against New England or Philadelphia, both, especially Philadelphia injury
ravaged teams, he couldn't generate one touchdown drive. More reality,
as they've become less about Zeke and more about Dak,
the Cowboys win less. In fact, if you go back
(19:55):
to every year Dak and Zeke have been in the
league together, twenty sixteen to twenty twenty, I have all
the numbers on the screen. I will not bore the
radio audience, but his rushing totals have gone down every year,
and as you see quite obviously, the team gets worse.
So the less it's about Zeke and the more it's
about Dak, because Zeke now is a pretty average running
back and the Cowboys are a pretty average football team.
(20:17):
So those that's the reality of what we have now
with Dak. That's the reality. Six and eleven, last seventeen,
a majority of his wins against the rebuilding Giants and
the rebuilding Washington football team couldn't generate a touchdown twenty
nineteen end of the year against Philadelphia and New England.
And the more they rely on Dak and the less
they rely on Zeke, the less they win. Those are
(20:39):
not now the Facebook effect. Let's go to the memories, Oh,
thirteen and three in his rookie season. Well, let's go
to that year. Let's go to the thirteen because that's
where we're like, Holy Molly, he's good. The Cowboys were
number one in rushing percentage, number two in rushing yards
(21:01):
a game, number two in rushing touchdowns, and number three
in rushing average. This was Zeke's team. Zeke rush for
six tish a lot of yards. Zeke rush for fifteen
touchdowns and sixteen hundred yards. And if you recall, I
remember that rookie year. It was the first time in
my life that I talked about an offensive line. Remember
(21:24):
that Dallas team, I mean they were just all those
offensive linemen were in their prime. They were all first
round picks. You know, the San Francisco forty nine ers
have all those first round picks in the defensive line.
We talked about it the Super Bowl year. The Cowboys
were the opposite. They had all these first round offensive
linemen and they were all in their prime. They just
bowled people over. You couldn't get to Dak. You couldn't
stop Zeke. Do you have many yards? Sixteen hundred yards
(21:46):
is fifteen touchdowns? Your memory is Dak is thirteen and three.
It was Zeke's team. You couldn't stop him. I remember
this Pittsburgh game. You could not stop them. And so
I think it's the Facebook effect. I think we're getting
a little bit of our Our memories of early Dak
aren't really the reality of early Dak or certainly later Dak.
(22:10):
Is that. I'm not saying he doesn't have qualities I
like and admire. I'm not saying when he wasn't carted
off the field, I didn't get emotional like. And I'm
not saying he's not a franchise quarterback. I'm not I'm
not saying any of those things. He has a franchise quarterback.
He's reliable, he's tough, he had one flukey injury. I mean,
he's you know, he's been good with Jerry Jones. He
stood behind him. He's always ready to play. He you know,
(22:33):
he tends to. He's got kind of a quality where
he can struggle in football games to find a rhythm,
but late in games, he's never afraid of the moment.
I like that about him. Kirk Cousins is talented. Sometimes
feels like he shrinks in the moment. I think Dak
lacks some certain great talents, But I never think he
shrinks in the moment. But I do think we've come
to a you know, that fork in the road where
(22:55):
the memories are fuzzy. We're romanticizing stuff more. You go
to a psychologist, if you're ever really going a deep
dive with a psychologist, they'll all tell you the same things.
We always embellish our childhood. It was either greater or
worse than it really was. Most people have sort of
(23:16):
you know a little chaos and childhood, go to school,
have friends. It's never as great as we recall. It's
probably never as bad as most people recall. You know,
we're all goofy, we're all kids. We all cried, we
all hit a we struck out a lot hit a
couple of game winning shots, but we were goofy kids.
I think with Dak, we're going a little overboard on
(23:38):
the memories and we need to be more honest about
the realities. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four
hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app.
Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like, Hey,
what's up everybody? It's me three time Pro Bowl Little Barrington,
and I couldn't be more excited to announce a new
podcast called up On What is Up on Game? You asked,
(24:02):
along with my fellow Pro bowler t J. Hudshmanzata and
Super Bowl champion Yep, that's right, Plexico Birds. You can
only name a show with that type of talent on it.
Up on Game We're going to be sharing our real
life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up on
Game with me LeVar Arrington, t J Hudshmanzotta, and Plexico
(24:24):
Birds on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcast from. So I love stories like this.
This is amazing and I always think, you know, we
always talk about joy quarterbacks who have a chip on
their shoulder because nobody, you know, thought they were going
to be good. I think about Darius Leonard. So, Darius
(24:45):
Leonard plays in the shadow of Clemson and South Carolina
and he goes to South Carolina State. So I'm gonna
ask him in a second, did they even recruit you?
So I never saw him playing college. I guarantee a
ninety percent of the players never saw him playing college.
He not only goes to the Colts as a rookie
(25:05):
and he's good. This is funny. He led the NFL
in tackles as a rookie. There's this old term sleeper,
like a guy's a sleeper. Darius is one of the
last sleepers that was literally a star NFL player that
like nobody saw playing college. We usually hear about I
remember t Y Hilton played, and I remember hearing about
(25:28):
t Y Hilton. I didn't even hear about Darius Leonard.
And he has a new foundation. He is joining us
live that he's going to be a Hall of Famer,
four years, three time All Pro. So let me ask him, so,
did Clemson or South Carolina even recruit you? Clemson, yes,
South Carolina No, So did you always have a little
(25:50):
chip on your shoulder about that? Did you want to
prove him wrong? Of course, because you know my brother
went to Clemson and my cousin went to Clemson. So
I was thinking I was gonna fall in that same,
that same, that same road to go to Clemson. And
you know, me and my brother had the same frame.
So I mean, I don't understand, you know, what was
what was the what was the thing there? And then
(26:11):
so I came out to my very last test score
to be qualified to play at the mess level. And
once I made it, you know, I called him, Hey,
you know I made the score. They said they had
they had no more scholarships. I called every college, every
college that you know, we had interest in me. Nobody
asked scholarships and nobody wanted me. So I called South
Carolina State. I asked him, hey, I made the score.
(26:32):
What's I got? They said, we got to a Parsti scholarship.
So I went up there on on a Parsti scholarship
and the rest of seastly Oh my god, so that's
even worse. You're both your brothers played at Clemson. It
was crazy, man. I mean I stayed every weekend. I
was in Clemsons, So I just knew that was the
only visit. I mean, the only camp that I went
(26:53):
to was Clemson camp. And then luckily, you know, on
the way back from Clemson, I went through South Carolina
day had the camp, and you know, I stopped there
for like an hour, and then after that that was
that was it. Oh my god, isn't that an amazing story?
So you go to the NFL and nobody knows who
you are, and then there not even Darius Leonard who's there.
(27:14):
So how many practices did it take before the cult
players were coming up to you and like they knew
your name, they knew who you were. Like how long
before you're like, okay, I'm gonna be good? How long
it take? Oh? Well, you know I came in on
the with a quad injury, so that first that first
day of practice, I reinjured my quad, so I didn't
(27:35):
do anything all OTAs and you could tell the looks
ony guys faces like wow, we just really drafted this guy.
He's hurt. I don't know what he's gonna bring to
the table. And then the first day of training camp,
I picked off Andrew luck and this, and you knew
everybody's coming up to mis congratulating me, talking about you're
gonna be pretty good. And that was it. And then
the game that I really think that stood out to
(27:56):
everybody was Week two against the Washington Risking where watching
the football team now? And I ended with nineteen tackles,
two sacks, And that's when they were like, okay, yeah, okay,
now now we realize who we have nineteen tackles and
an NFL game that is insane. So now you know
it's interesting. Um, you had doubters and now you have
(28:18):
Carson Wentz and Darius he has doubters. Um, how did
cult players look at a guy that was really good?
And they really struggled because there are a lot of
people out there right now that are like, man, you
guys want a lot of games with Philip Rivers? How
do you Is the team all in on Carson? How's
it feel right now? Are we all in? You know?
(28:40):
Every everything? You know? We trust and believe in everything
Chris Baller and coach Praye and Jee Mercy doing all
in the front office. And if you get brought into
the coach organization, I mean that they believe in you.
And if they believe in you. We believe in them,
and we're gonna stick behind you no matter what. And
I do think you know, I played against Carson in
twenty eighteen his first game back from his injury, and
he played very well on it when he when he
(29:02):
came back. I haven't seen too much film after that,
but he was actually a pretty good quarterback when we
played him. So we know what talent talented he is,
we know what type of leadership that he brings in.
So we're definitely looking forward to it. And I just
prayed that he takes every doubt or just like Philip
Rivers did. They doubted Philip Rivers when he came to
the Indianapolis coast and he proved them doubters wrong. So
(29:23):
I hope that Carson Wentz to come in and prove
every doubter wrong. And hopefully at the end of the season,
when he's holding up that Lobarti Trophy, hopefully he gonna
hopefully get some kind of some kind of some kind
of good feedback instead of all the negative feedback that
he's getting now in the media, which will definitely sucks
because he's been playing, he's been playing well. He's in
the NFL and everybody talked tris. He's playing at the
highest level that he can possibly play at, and he
(29:45):
gets so much criticism for being an NFL quarterbacks. So
I'm definitely looking forward to it. By the way, Philip Rivers,
I'm not sure Philip Rivers could outrun my microphone. He's
an old man, and he came in last year and
Joy and I were sitting here, like this guy. We
thought he should hang it up, were you, sir? I mean,
he's not the most athletic guy. The first time you
(30:06):
played with him, you know, he didn't run very well.
He's got that crazy side arm stuff. Were you kind
of surprised how effective he was at his age, don't Well?
You know last year, well, the year before last, we
played him and we won, so I knew what he
was capable. Bob and my brother played with him since
my brother got drafted there in two thousand and seven.
(30:27):
So I watched Philip for a long time. And then
when he got here, you know, everybody was talking down
about him, you know what, saying he wasn't there, saying
wasn't that. And then you see him in practice and
you see him any games how he how he's taking
over the whole offense, he's running it, he's talking trash,
and he's such a competitor. And I don't think it
surprised me because I believed him since since he came
(30:49):
from San Diego. But you know, just happening. The only
thing that surprised me was he retired. I really do
think that Uncle Phil has some left in the team,
and that was the only surprise to me. But he's
been playing well every since, every since I knew knew
about them. Yeah, you know, you guys didn't have a
preseason last year, obviously the pandemic, but it didn't hurt
the team. The team played great when you look back
(31:10):
at the pandemic year and the changes you had to make,
And now you're gonna have OTAs I would guess, and
you're gonna have camp. You know, it's funny. I was
never a huge fan of preseason football. I don't think
Darius Leonard needs four warm up games. I don't want
to see you get hurt, like preseason to me is
me crossing my fingers that star players don't get hurt.
How valuable do you believe, Darius, because you didn't have
(31:33):
preseason last year and you were good this morning. Do
you think preseason is valuable in the NFL? Um, It's
valuable for rookies. I would think so, just because of
the day. They're coming in and they're coming into a
new system, and you would hate to see that first
game going full speed is a real game that really counts,
(31:55):
and they really and complete shot with the lights. So
when it comes down to pre season games, I think
for rookies, that's the best type of their to come.
So now they're getting all the jitters out. Okay, now
I'm in the NFL. I'm learning this new system. They're
gonna build them confidence. But I think that's about it,
because when it comes down to the bets, the BET's
only playing maybe five the team plays, and then we're
standing on the sideline. So I just think it's good
(32:18):
for good for the rookies to learn the system and
learn exactly how fast the game changed from college to
the NFL level. You guys, I'm reading stories over the
last week Darius Darius Leonard joining us from the Colts
as good as any linebacker in the NFL. I mean,
simply put seventeen game schedule. I don't know, I don't
like to. I mean to me. I don't like leagues
(32:41):
when they get greedy. I feel like, God, you guys
play them enough. I don't. I don't love the extra game,
even though I join, I benefit from it more football
is good for us as a player in the NFL.
What do you think about an extra game? Are you good? Best?
You don't like it? No, I don't. I don't like
it at all. I mean, we're putting our body on
the line for sixteen weeks already, and then we're gonna
(33:01):
add another game that's nine times out of teen and
not even a meaningful game, and you're putting everything at risk.
So I personally don't like it. The other guys voted
for I think the six team season, um sixteen game
season was has been good for what fifty years now?
So why, I mean, why change it now? So I honestly,
I mean I don't like it at all unless they're
(33:22):
gonna give us another another boyle week because it's already
a long season, So why I had another game? Yeah? No,
I totally agree with that. I totally agree with that.
All right, you have a Today, Darius Leonard announced the
establishment of his Maniac Foundation, and you're obviously a guy
that cares about your community. I know, Chris Ballard, you're
one of the good guys. So what's this foundation? A
back tell me, you know, it's the Maniac Foundation. It's
(33:45):
based off you know, just helping every every family and
kids and needs. We have our three three pillars that
we definitely want to touch. The first one, our first
pillar is you know, helping families get food on the
table for their families. The second pillar, you know, we
want to talk about kids, you know, helping kids in
the educational programs, UM, trying to try to initiate our
(34:06):
first math Maniacs, trying to get done just enjoying during
school work again, especially in the pandemic where you're sitting
on the computer all day, you're not in the classroom,
you're not around friends. And then the third one is
you know, just helping on what the fitness. You know,
you want to get kids more active now because you
know a lot of video games and everything everybody's inside.
So we want to we want to try to get
(34:27):
kids to kind of get active again. UM, making sure
that they know that there's so many people that's out
there that's going to help them on their way and
they're not alone. So We just definitely trying to find
a way to get kids more involved, get you know,
help families out there's in need, and you know, just
trying to be a lemned head a hand to people
in need. By the way, this could be a dumb question,
(34:47):
so don't make fun of me. But you hit hard?
You you you? I mean you hit hard? You are
you are? Are you two thirty five? By two thirty two?
How about how much you way? I've probably finished the
season probably around two fifteen. You hit hard? When if
you ever hit a guy and you just you hear
him WinCE like something after a guy. After you hit
(35:09):
a guy, you've you've sacked Ryan Tannehill a lot? When
you hit Tannehill? Can you just hear Does he ever
talk to you and say can you slow down a
little now? Because? Um, you know when I when I
talk with quarterbacks, you know that's not on It's time
to you know, it's trying to celebrate, it's time to
you know, it's trying to have fun. So I don't
I don't even give them an opportunity to really say
(35:29):
too much. Um. I think the only person that I
ever hit and he talked trash to me was the
old Man, Frank Gore, Frank Gordon talk trash the whole
entire game, which which makes the game so so much fun. Um,
that's the only guy that I really feel like that
talk that talk trash when when you hit him, because
you know he for him to be his age, he
still runs the ball very very well. He runs hard,
(35:51):
he runs beyond his paths, and so he has the
right to talk trash whenever you do hit him because
he didn't have company so much in his own in
his career. Can you imagine talking trash to Darius Leonard
and you know he's going to tackle you. I would
I would not recommend that for anybody. Hey, good luck
to you and the Colts. You're a credit to the game.
You're a good dude, and I love having you on
again
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Are
you sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve
to three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The
Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd.
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern
on Fox Sports Radio. Oh here we go on a Tuesday.
(00:28):
We're live in Los Angeles. This show is called The Herd.
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening
Fox Sports Radio, iHeartRadio at f S one, it is
good to have you in today. All sorts of things happening.
JJ Watt yesterday middle of our show decided to move
(00:49):
his act and his talent to Arizona, and Joey Taylor
and I were in the woe stage and the wild
stage and didn't see that common stage. We're so often
surprised by where stars go. Joy, how are you? I'm
Great's but a really wild NFL offseason so far, and
it actually hasn't really even officially started. It's amazing how
(01:11):
many stars the transaction business in the NFL. Stafford jj
Watt Carson, I want to talk about this. So there
was a story out there yesterday. It was down to
Buffalo in Arizona, two different culture cities fan bases, and
apparently somebody in Buffalo reporter had talked to a former
Texans coach and they criticized JJ Watt. They said, quote,
(01:35):
he's selfish, only cared about his stats. He does a
lot of things that hurt the defense. I wouldn't want him.
He cared. He hurt us sometimes more than he helped us.
So what you're saying is he a little rogue that's
been the knock on in Dominican zoo for years. He's
a little bit of a you know, doing his own thing,
a little bit of a freelancer. For the record, i've
(01:55):
heard a little bit of that with jj Watt a
little bit now this morning. It's interesting if I lined
up and this goes along the lines of what like
the big sports betting companies think. If I looked at
the NFC West this morning, I would take the Rams
to win the division. They won ten games last year
with Jared Goff. I think Matt Stafford's worth a win.
I'd have the Rams winning the NFC West at eleven
(02:17):
to five. I would have San Francisco if Jimmy Garoppolo
is healthy. If he's healthy, battling them for second place.
I'm selling some of my stock on Seattle, but they
have Russell Wilson, so I'd pick him third. In Arizona
fourth not a shot, but it's the best division in football.
So JJ Watt did not choose the best team in
his own division. He didn't choose the best roster in
(02:41):
his own division. He didn't choose the best Super Bowl
odds in his own division. He picked probably the fourth
best coach in a division. Some would argue the fourth
best quarterback in his division. He didn't choose an area
that was closer to home. Arizona was fourth in sacks
(03:05):
last year. He didn't choose a place where he'd have
the greatest impact. It may just be this easy. J J.
Watt chose the place that was best for him and
his wife Kalia. When that's it. She's a pro athlete,
he's a pro athlete. They don't have to have a
second home with warm weather. They can go train in
(03:26):
the off season. This is a good place to play
some golf, drinks, some Margharita's in the off season and
he and his wife can train together outdoors in their
beautiful house. Matt Stafford, by the way, was on the
market many suitors. He chose the Rams, which is the
toughest division in football. Why we found out you're just
(03:46):
like He liked Los Angeles. He had a home here,
he liked the weather. Off seasons are easier. He's kind
of worn out from Michigan winners. I mean, he grew
up in Texas, played at Georgia. He was tired of
the winners. Think about where the Stars choose. Ad chose
Brooklyn Kawhi chose the Clippers. Tom Brady chose the Buccaneers.
(04:11):
As you age, things that were less important become really important.
Think about the final two choices for JJ Watt on
one shoulder as a little Buffalo bill, Hey, we are
a player away from the super Bowl. You are gonna
win the division and the airside was it was a
(04:35):
little devil and he was wearing Arizona colors and he's like,
it is Buffalo. You're gonna have to have a second home.
Does your wife only want to live in Buffalo to
jump on tables? And it's kind of crazy. Arizona's more
laid back. You can golf in the off season, you
can golf in the season. Think about the two places
that were the final places. He probably felt guilty a
(05:00):
little bit for choosing Arizona, so he concludes Buffalo because
that was as Join and I talked about. That's the
place where he can Literally, they're gonna win their division
next year. They feel like they're a pass rush away
from the super Bowl. Tennessee doesn't, Green Bay doesn't. Necessarily
they already had a pretty good pass rush. So the
final two places came down to one place where it
made total football sense, and they finished second to the
(05:21):
place that didn't make really any football sense. And that's okay.
We tend to in the media try to figure out
what the best place for the athlete is he fits
the scheme, hey the division and Lebron James chose Miami
they weren't good when he got there, and the Lakers
(05:42):
they were terrible when he got there. Both cities for
a kid that grew up in Akron, a lot of
sex appeal, a lot of fun. You can get free
agents to come and play there. We're always trying to
figure out where players are gonna go. We're almost always
wrong in my gut feeling this morning. And I've moved
four different times to different places. I think, Joe, you've
(06:04):
moved three or four different times. It's never you get
that yellow notepad out. And I guarantee that JJ Watt
did with his wife Kayleia, and they wrote down stuff,
and we'd be wrong in all the guesses. And I'm
here to tell you, I bet some of it was this.
Cliff Kingsbury has a reputation. He doesn't grind players at practice.
(06:25):
He's very Sean McVeagh. JJ Watson Hall of Famer. Does
he want to grind at practice? JJ Watt shows up
on Sunday and kicks your rs. He didn't need to
grind at practice. You don't want to get hurt at practice?
You mean I put that one down? Where did my
wife and I in the off season? You know you
live in a cold place. You gotta have a second
home in Arizonia, don't so all those little things you
(06:47):
write down on a list as we age. You know,
when I was twenty, professional success was everything. I'm fifty.
I'm more into my kid's success, like pro athletes are
the same. Kaded to Brooklyn Kawhite of the Clippers braided
the buck and he's JJ Watt to Arizona. It may
have just been as simple as I'm married. Now the
off seasons matter now. Money's good enough and winning. If
(07:12):
it happens, great. If it doesn't, I still make the
Hall of Fame, and that's okay too, all right. So
I saw this story. Jane Slater is a reporter. I
trust she is talking. Her sources are telling her. Yesterday
the Dan Patrick Show on how Dak is not budging
on his salary demands. There's money was in the ballpark
(07:36):
of Russell Wilson slash Jared Goff type money. Now he's
looking to be paid right behind Patrick Mahomes a guy
who's gone to the super Bowl two years in a row.
Dak hasn't done that yet, so they feel like it's
been a respectable offer. His camp believes that he needs
to bear what the market value is, and they feel
like this deals should have gotten done two years ago.
(07:57):
So your problems with money aren't our problems. It's about respect.
If you trust that report, and I do, is it possible?
Devoted and dependable Deck has become delusional Deck, So let's
pretend we'll play game here. The quarterbacks were paid in
order based on two things. Now, talent's obviously a big deal,
(08:21):
but I think it's actually second place to how valuable
you are, because I've seen Bill Belichick give up a
lot of talented players. He rarely gives up valuable players.
In fact, our sports leagues all have awards called most
valuable Player. None of them have most talented player. Joy.
And I've been in this business for thirty years. Companies
move on from talented people all the time, valuable people,
(08:44):
and I'll move on from valuable people. So if you
were paid based on your talent and how valuable you
are to me, there's three tiers. The first tier is
four guys, Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Josh Allen.
And let me describe each. Seattle runs an anequated offense.
(09:06):
Pete Carroll was fired twice and had a losing record
in Seattle before Russell Wilson. What is Seattle offensively without
Russell Wilson. Tom Brady not only moves your team in
the right direction, he gives you super Bowls. At the end,
he changed a goofy buccaneer franchise into a place. Now
we argue everybody wants to play. Aaron Rodgers doesn't give
(09:28):
you many super Bowls, but Green Bay has historically been
awful when he doesn't play. And then Josh Allen. Josh
Allen's their best running back, He's their best running weapon,
he's their best throwing weapon on a historically last twenty
years in that franchise. They're now a super Bowl conversation team.
The second tier, and I know what you're saying, Patrick Mahomes, Well,
(09:49):
Annie Reid has thirteen playoff wins without Patrick Mahomes. Two
years ago they beat the playoff Kings without Patrick Mahomes
and should have beaten the Packers. The Kansas City Chiefs
were a good franchise forever without Patrick Mahomes and with
all their weapons today, if Patrick Mahomes was not the
Chiefs quarterback, I believe we saw it with Alex Smith,
(10:12):
they'd be a playoff team. So the second tier. Patrick
Mahomes is a mega talent, but not quite as valuable
as the verse four. Deshaun Watson again mega talent, but
he went four and twelve this year. It oh by
the way, Bill O'Brien won that division with Brock Osweiler.
Look it up. I did. I don't remember it, but
it happened. Lamar Jackson is damn good, but Baltimore won
(10:36):
a lot of games in the Super Bowl without him,
and then Jimmy Garoppolo. I know what you're saying. Come on, Colin,
Kyle Shanahan is a great coach. Has won twenty five
percent of his NFL games without Kyle, without Jimmy Garoppolo.
I'm sorry, I hurt your feelings. That's called valuable. Everybody
else in the NFL is Tier three, pretty talented, sometimes valuable.
(11:01):
Let's remember that in the last seventeen starts, Dak Prescott
is six and eleven. They were five and five with
Andy Dalton last year, if you count the game he
came in initially and led them do a win against
the New York Giants. They were behind, Dak got hurt,
he came in and won. He was Dak was eight
(11:23):
and eight in twenty nineteen, six and eleven as last
seventeen starts, and in games he started and finished last year,
he was one in three Andy Dalton, if you count
the game he replaced Dak against the Giants was five
and five. Now Dak's better than Andy Dalton. I am
not in any way insinuating he is not. But if
(11:44):
Dak is saying this morning, I'm worth Patrick Mahomes money,
I'm gonna struggle with that. And I like Dak, but
that's dependable devoted Dak to delusional Dak. You'd got a
kind to know if you go into on track negotiations,
you got to you gotta kind of know the temperature
(12:06):
in the room. To me, there's four guys that are
tier one. They can kind of name their price. There's
another four or five guys, maybe even more talented, but
don't quite feel as valuable to the franchise. Garoppolo would
be the opposite. I don't think he's a mega talent,
but I think he's super valuable to San Francisco everybody else.
(12:29):
It's kind of tier three obviously, a Dak maybe a
higher tier three or a Matt Ryan. And you know,
Baker's probably somewhat valuable. But if that's true, he sees
himself as Mahomes money class. Maybe that's why Jerry Jones
(12:49):
may franchise them again. That may be the reason. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and
noon Easter nine a Empacific on Fox Sports Radios one
and the iHeartRadio app. Hey, what's up everybody? It's me
three time pro bowler Levarrington and I couldn't be more
excited to announce a new podcast called Up on Game?
(13:10):
What is Up on Game? You asked, along with my
fellow pro bowler t J. Hudshman's OTTA and Super Bowl champion. Yep,
that's right, Plexico Birds. You can only name a show
with that type of talent on it. Up on Game
We're going to be sharing our real life experiences loaded
with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with Me,
(13:32):
LeVar Arrington, t J. Hushman's Outa, and Plexico Birds on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your
podcast from. It's rare in professional sports, at least in
this country, where somebody who becomes iconic is a late
bloomer or we don't really know about him early, and
(13:54):
all of a sudden we figure out, Wow. I mean,
you know, we talked about Lebron at sixteen, Bryce Harper
at seventeen, Tiger Woods at thirteen. That's just kind of
the reality of how it works. There very few late
bloomers become a face of the league. Now you could say, oh,
Patrick Mahomes, but all football players go to three or
(14:15):
four years of college, and by the end of his
first year there were rumors he was amazing, and by
his second year in the league he became really, really,
really the most talked about quarterback in the NFL not
named Tom Brady or maybe Aaron Rodgers. So Mahomes is
not a late bloomer, but it's interesting. Zion Williamson watched
him last night again. He's getting better every game. The
best team in the NBA so far has been the
(14:36):
Utah Jazz, and he was dominant last night again. I
would make the argument today that Zion Williamson is the
second or third most popular player in the NBA. I
think Lebron and Steph Curry go back and forth. I
think Steph is very relatable to young kids because he's
small like young kids, where Lebron looks just so monstrous
(14:56):
and big. I think Lebron and Staff are the two
most popular players in the I think Zion's already number three.
Katie and Harden are great, but their personalities are a
little odd. Jannis and Kawhi are quiet, not necessarily dynamic personalities.
But have you noticed anything. Utah's the number one team
in the league. The NBA's not rushing to put them
on TV. The NBA didn't rush to put New Orleans
(15:17):
on TV when they had Anthony Davis. Is anybody noticing
how ESPN and TNT are fighting to get Zion Williamson
on television. It reminds me when Tim Tebow was in
the NFL. I was told by an executive that Tebo
articles on Sunday night after the games were getting five
and six times like the Patriot articles with Brady or
(15:38):
the Giants articles with Eli. I think the NBA's found
their next face in the league, and I think it's Zion.
And I think he's already the third most popular player.
I remember a couple of years ago, it may have
been five or six years ago, and I've said this
on the air with Joy several times. When sixty Minutes
came out and said Yannis is the face of the league,
I'm like, I didn't know who he was until like
(15:59):
year three in the NBA. Zion has three things that
are really really important. Number One, he played at Duke
and his shoe exploded and there was controversy around him.
So we knew him as a teenager. I didn't know
Yannis till I didn't know Kawhi until he'd been in
the league like three years. I didn't know Yannis. It's
one thing for Bryce Harper, who he's in the minors
(16:21):
and I knew him in high school. It's another thing
like we didn't talk about Mike Trout and then he
went to the Angels and he had to be great
before we talked about him being great. We talked about
Bryce Harper being great in the eight bigs when he
was in high school. So Zion played at Duke. That's
why I've always defended college basketball. It's a good platform.
NBA should use it more, and we knew who he
(16:42):
was early plus the Internet his dunks. Secondly is his
game is not only dynamic, it doesn't look like anybody
else's game. I remember when Magic Johnson came into the NBA.
There's never been a six eight and a half point guard.
He didn't even look like other guards. Magic had I'd
have a funky shot. He didn't shoot like anybody else.
(17:03):
He didn't play like anybody else. Zion's game doesn't look
like anybody else's game. And number three, his personality like magic.
He's likable, he smiles, He wanted to play when a
shoe exploded. He wanted to come back to college basketball,
but he said, all my agents and stuff said I
probably need to go pro. I'd love to come back
and play college basketball. I think he's the third most
(17:25):
popular guy in the league. We knew him early. His
game is crazy and crazy different, and I find the
guy incredibly likable. That's not that James Harden isn't likable.
He's a little odd. Kawhi is quiet. I mean, Janis
We didn't kind of figure him out till later. And
his game is good, but there's holes in it and
(17:47):
it's I don't find it terribly dynamic, although there are
moments when he makes great plays. But if you look
at how hard the NBA is working to get Zion
on television, that tells you everything. They're looking at data
and they're looking at research, and he is jumping and
popping off the charts. They're not doing that with Kauai.
(18:10):
I mean, they're not Dame Lillard's great. They're not doing
that with the Trailblazers. They didn't do it with A
d and the Pelicans. They're not doing it with John Morant.
They're doing it with historically irrelevant New Orleans and Zion.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week
days and noon Easter Nini Empacific. I don't go to Facebook,
but people that do they always talk about kind of
the Facebook effect where a lot of affairs start on Facebook,
(18:33):
where you know, guys look up their high school flame
or college flame, or women look up their high school
flame or college flame. And that's because your memories are
greater than reality. There's a reason you dumped him and
then married somebody else and had beautiful kids, is that
your memories are much greater than reality. People generally don't
(18:53):
remember pain. They often say that's why women have multiple children,
because they don't remember how painful sometimes childbirth can be.
You don't remember the pain. You remember the good times
in relationships too, And so I don't go to Facebook.
But that's the effect of it. Now, I was thinking
about Dak Prescott, who now wants to be paid like
Patrick Mahomes. Let's talk about not the memories, Let's talk
(19:14):
about the reality of Dak. These are all facts, not opinions.
Last seventeen starts, he's six and eleven. Fourteen of his wins,
that's a lot of wins have come against Washington and
the Giants rebuilding seven and two against one, seven and
one against the other. Last four years, majority of his
wins against those two crappy teams. And in twenty nineteen
(19:34):
another reality, end of the year to get into the
playoffs against New England or Philadelphia, both, especially Philadelphia injury
ravaged teams, he couldn't generate one touchdown drive. More reality,
as they've become less about Zeke and more about Dak,
the Cowboys win less. In fact, if you go back
(19:55):
to every year Dak and Zeke have been in the
league together, twenty sixteen to twenty twenty, I have all
the numbers on the screen. I will not bore the
radio audience, but his rushing totals have gone down every year,
and as you see quite obviously, the team gets worse.
So the less it's about Zeke and the more it's
about Dak, because Zeke now is a pretty average running
back and the Cowboys are a pretty average football team.
(20:17):
So those that's the reality of what we have now
with Dak. That's the reality. Six and eleven, last seventeen,
a majority of his wins against the rebuilding Giants and
the rebuilding Washington football team couldn't generate a touchdown twenty
nineteen end of the year against Philadelphia and New England.
And the more they rely on Dak and the less
they rely on Zeke, the less they win. Those are
(20:39):
not now the Facebook effect. Let's go to the memories, Oh,
thirteen and three in his rookie season. Well, let's go
to that year. Let's go to the thirteen because that's
where we're like, Holy Molly, he's good. The Cowboys were
number one in rushing percentage, number two in rushing yards
(21:01):
a game, number two in rushing touchdowns, and number three
in rushing average. This was Zeke's team. Zeke rush for
six tish a lot of yards. Zeke rush for fifteen
touchdowns and sixteen hundred yards. And if you recall, I
remember that rookie year. It was the first time in
my life that I talked about an offensive line. Remember
(21:24):
that Dallas team, I mean they were just all those
offensive linemen were in their prime. They were all first
round picks. You know, the San Francisco forty nine ers
have all those first round picks in the defensive line.
We talked about it the Super Bowl year. The Cowboys
were the opposite. They had all these first round offensive
linemen and they were all in their prime. They just
bowled people over. You couldn't get to Dak. You couldn't
stop Zeke. Do you have many yards? Sixteen hundred yards
(21:46):
is fifteen touchdowns? Your memory is Dak is thirteen and three.
It was Zeke's team. You couldn't stop him. I remember
this Pittsburgh game. You could not stop them. And so
I think it's the Facebook effect. I think we're getting
a little bit of our Our memories of early Dak
aren't really the reality of early Dak or certainly later Dak.
(22:10):
Is that. I'm not saying he doesn't have qualities I
like and admire. I'm not saying when he wasn't carted
off the field, I didn't get emotional like. And I'm
not saying he's not a franchise quarterback. I'm not I'm
not saying any of those things. He has a franchise quarterback.
He's reliable, he's tough, he had one flukey injury. I mean,
he's you know, he's been good with Jerry Jones. He
stood behind him. He's always ready to play. He you know,
(22:33):
he tends to. He's got kind of a quality where
he can struggle in football games to find a rhythm,
but late in games, he's never afraid of the moment.
I like that about him. Kirk Cousins is talented. Sometimes
feels like he shrinks in the moment. I think Dak
lacks some certain great talents, But I never think he
shrinks in the moment. But I do think we've come
to a you know, that fork in the road where
(22:55):
the memories are fuzzy. We're romanticizing stuff more. You go
to a psychologist, if you're ever really going a deep
dive with a psychologist, they'll all tell you the same things.
We always embellish our childhood. It was either greater or
worse than it really was. Most people have sort of
(23:16):
you know a little chaos and childhood, go to school,
have friends. It's never as great as we recall. It's
probably never as bad as most people recall. You know,
we're all goofy, we're all kids. We all cried, we
all hit a we struck out a lot hit a
couple of game winning shots, but we were goofy kids.
I think with Dak, we're going a little overboard on
(23:38):
the memories and we need to be more honest about
the realities. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four
hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app.
Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like, Hey,
what's up everybody? It's me three time Pro Bowl Little Barrington,
and I couldn't be more excited to announce a new
podcast called up On What is Up on Game? You asked,
(24:02):
along with my fellow Pro bowler t J. Hudshmanzata and
Super Bowl champion Yep, that's right, Plexico Birds. You can
only name a show with that type of talent on it.
Up on Game We're going to be sharing our real
life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up on
Game with me LeVar Arrington, t J Hudshmanzotta, and Plexico
(24:24):
Birds on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcast from. So I love stories like this.
This is amazing and I always think, you know, we
always talk about joy quarterbacks who have a chip on
their shoulder because nobody, you know, thought they were going
to be good. I think about Darius Leonard. So, Darius
(24:45):
Leonard plays in the shadow of Clemson and South Carolina
and he goes to South Carolina State. So I'm gonna
ask him in a second, did they even recruit you?
So I never saw him playing college. I guarantee a
ninety percent of the players never saw him playing college.
He not only goes to the Colts as a rookie
(25:05):
and he's good. This is funny. He led the NFL
in tackles as a rookie. There's this old term sleeper,
like a guy's a sleeper. Darius is one of the
last sleepers that was literally a star NFL player that
like nobody saw playing college. We usually hear about I
remember t Y Hilton played, and I remember hearing about
(25:28):
t Y Hilton. I didn't even hear about Darius Leonard.
And he has a new foundation. He is joining us
live that he's going to be a Hall of Famer,
four years, three time All Pro. So let me ask him, so,
did Clemson or South Carolina even recruit you? Clemson, yes,
South Carolina No, So did you always have a little
(25:50):
chip on your shoulder about that? Did you want to
prove him wrong? Of course, because you know my brother
went to Clemson and my cousin went to Clemson. So
I was thinking I was gonna fall in that same,
that same, that same road to go to Clemson. And
you know, me and my brother had the same frame.
So I mean, I don't understand, you know, what was
what was the what was the thing there? And then
(26:11):
so I came out to my very last test score
to be qualified to play at the mess level. And
once I made it, you know, I called him, Hey,
you know I made the score. They said they had
they had no more scholarships. I called every college, every
college that you know, we had interest in me. Nobody
asked scholarships and nobody wanted me. So I called South
Carolina State. I asked him, hey, I made the score.
(26:32):
What's I got? They said, we got to a Parsti scholarship.
So I went up there on on a Parsti scholarship
and the rest of seastly Oh my god, so that's
even worse. You're both your brothers played at Clemson. It
was crazy, man. I mean I stayed every weekend. I
was in Clemsons, So I just knew that was the
only visit. I mean, the only camp that I went
(26:53):
to was Clemson camp. And then luckily, you know, on
the way back from Clemson, I went through South Carolina
day had the camp, and you know, I stopped there
for like an hour, and then after that that was
that was it. Oh my god, isn't that an amazing story?
So you go to the NFL and nobody knows who
you are, and then there not even Darius Leonard who's there.
(27:14):
So how many practices did it take before the cult
players were coming up to you and like they knew
your name, they knew who you were. Like how long
before you're like, okay, I'm gonna be good? How long
it take? Oh? Well, you know I came in on
the with a quad injury, so that first that first
day of practice, I reinjured my quad, so I didn't
(27:35):
do anything all OTAs and you could tell the looks
ony guys faces like wow, we just really drafted this guy.
He's hurt. I don't know what he's gonna bring to
the table. And then the first day of training camp,
I picked off Andrew luck and this, and you knew
everybody's coming up to mis congratulating me, talking about you're
gonna be pretty good. And that was it. And then
the game that I really think that stood out to
(27:56):
everybody was Week two against the Washington Risking where watching
the football team now? And I ended with nineteen tackles,
two sacks, And that's when they were like, okay, yeah, okay,
now now we realize who we have nineteen tackles and
an NFL game that is insane. So now you know
it's interesting. Um, you had doubters and now you have
(28:18):
Carson Wentz and Darius he has doubters. Um, how did
cult players look at a guy that was really good?
And they really struggled because there are a lot of
people out there right now that are like, man, you
guys want a lot of games with Philip Rivers? How
do you Is the team all in on Carson? How's
it feel right now? Are we all in? You know?
(28:40):
Every everything? You know? We trust and believe in everything
Chris Baller and coach Praye and Jee Mercy doing all
in the front office. And if you get brought into
the coach organization, I mean that they believe in you.
And if they believe in you. We believe in them,
and we're gonna stick behind you no matter what. And
I do think you know, I played against Carson in
twenty eighteen his first game back from his injury, and
he played very well on it when he when he
(29:02):
came back. I haven't seen too much film after that,
but he was actually a pretty good quarterback when we
played him. So we know what talent talented he is,
we know what type of leadership that he brings in.
So we're definitely looking forward to it. And I just
prayed that he takes every doubt or just like Philip
Rivers did. They doubted Philip Rivers when he came to
the Indianapolis coast and he proved them doubters wrong. So
(29:23):
I hope that Carson Wentz to come in and prove
every doubter wrong. And hopefully at the end of the season,
when he's holding up that Lobarti Trophy, hopefully he gonna
hopefully get some kind of some kind of some kind
of good feedback instead of all the negative feedback that
he's getting now in the media, which will definitely sucks
because he's been playing, he's been playing well. He's in
the NFL and everybody talked tris. He's playing at the
highest level that he can possibly play at, and he
(29:45):
gets so much criticism for being an NFL quarterbacks. So
I'm definitely looking forward to it. By the way, Philip Rivers,
I'm not sure Philip Rivers could outrun my microphone. He's
an old man, and he came in last year and
Joy and I were sitting here, like this guy. We
thought he should hang it up, were you, sir? I mean,
he's not the most athletic guy. The first time you
(30:06):
played with him, you know, he didn't run very well.
He's got that crazy side arm stuff. Were you kind
of surprised how effective he was at his age, don't Well?
You know last year, well, the year before last, we
played him and we won, so I knew what he
was capable. Bob and my brother played with him since
my brother got drafted there in two thousand and seven.
(30:27):
So I watched Philip for a long time. And then
when he got here, you know, everybody was talking down
about him, you know what, saying he wasn't there, saying
wasn't that. And then you see him in practice and
you see him any games how he how he's taking
over the whole offense, he's running it, he's talking trash,
and he's such a competitor. And I don't think it
surprised me because I believed him since since he came
(30:49):
from San Diego. But you know, just happening. The only
thing that surprised me was he retired. I really do
think that Uncle Phil has some left in the team,
and that was the only surprise to me. But he's
been playing well every since, every since I knew knew
about them. Yeah, you know, you guys didn't have a
preseason last year, obviously the pandemic, but it didn't hurt
the team. The team played great when you look back
(31:10):
at the pandemic year and the changes you had to make,
And now you're gonna have OTAs I would guess, and
you're gonna have camp. You know, it's funny. I was
never a huge fan of preseason football. I don't think
Darius Leonard needs four warm up games. I don't want
to see you get hurt, like preseason to me is
me crossing my fingers that star players don't get hurt.
How valuable do you believe, Darius, because you didn't have
(31:33):
preseason last year and you were good this morning. Do
you think preseason is valuable in the NFL? Um, It's
valuable for rookies. I would think so, just because of
the day. They're coming in and they're coming into a
new system, and you would hate to see that first
game going full speed is a real game that really counts,
(31:55):
and they really and complete shot with the lights. So
when it comes down to pre season games, I think
for rookies, that's the best type of their to come.
So now they're getting all the jitters out. Okay, now
I'm in the NFL. I'm learning this new system. They're
gonna build them confidence. But I think that's about it,
because when it comes down to the bets, the BET's
only playing maybe five the team plays, and then we're
standing on the sideline. So I just think it's good
(32:18):
for good for the rookies to learn the system and
learn exactly how fast the game changed from college to
the NFL level. You guys, I'm reading stories over the
last week Darius Darius Leonard joining us from the Colts
as good as any linebacker in the NFL. I mean,
simply put seventeen game schedule. I don't know, I don't
like to. I mean to me. I don't like leagues
(32:41):
when they get greedy. I feel like, God, you guys
play them enough. I don't. I don't love the extra game,
even though I join, I benefit from it more football
is good for us as a player in the NFL.
What do you think about an extra game? Are you good? Best?
You don't like it? No, I don't. I don't like
it at all. I mean, we're putting our body on
the line for sixteen weeks already, and then we're gonna
(33:01):
add another game that's nine times out of teen and
not even a meaningful game, and you're putting everything at risk.
So I personally don't like it. The other guys voted
for I think the six team season, um sixteen game
season was has been good for what fifty years now?
So why, I mean, why change it now? So I honestly,
I mean I don't like it at all unless they're
(33:22):
gonna give us another another boyle week because it's already
a long season, So why I had another game? Yeah? No,
I totally agree with that. I totally agree with that.
All right, you have a Today, Darius Leonard announced the
establishment of his Maniac Foundation, and you're obviously a guy
that cares about your community. I know, Chris Ballard, you're
one of the good guys. So what's this foundation? A
back tell me, you know, it's the Maniac Foundation. It's
(33:45):
based off you know, just helping every every family and
kids and needs. We have our three three pillars that
we definitely want to touch. The first one, our first
pillar is you know, helping families get food on the
table for their families. The second pillar, you know, we
want to talk about kids, you know, helping kids in
the educational programs, UM, trying to try to initiate our
(34:06):
first math Maniacs, trying to get done just enjoying during
school work again, especially in the pandemic where you're sitting
on the computer all day, you're not in the classroom,
you're not around friends. And then the third one is
you know, just helping on what the fitness. You know,
you want to get kids more active now because you
know a lot of video games and everything everybody's inside.
So we want to we want to try to get
(34:27):
kids to kind of get active again. UM, making sure
that they know that there's so many people that's out
there that's going to help them on their way and
they're not alone. So We just definitely trying to find
a way to get kids more involved, get you know,
help families out there's in need, and you know, just
trying to be a lemned head a hand to people
in need. By the way, this could be a dumb question,
(34:47):
so don't make fun of me. But you hit hard?
You you you? I mean you hit hard? You are
you are? Are you two thirty five? By two thirty two?
How about how much you way? I've probably finished the
season probably around two fifteen. You hit hard? When if
you ever hit a guy and you just you hear
him WinCE like something after a guy. After you hit
(35:09):
a guy, you've you've sacked Ryan Tannehill a lot? When
you hit Tannehill? Can you just hear Does he ever
talk to you and say can you slow down a
little now? Because? Um, you know when I when I
talk with quarterbacks, you know that's not on It's time
to you know, it's trying to celebrate, it's time to
you know, it's trying to have fun. So I don't
I don't even give them an opportunity to really say
(35:29):
too much. Um. I think the only person that I
ever hit and he talked trash to me was the
old Man, Frank Gore, Frank Gordon talk trash the whole
entire game, which which makes the game so so much fun. Um,
that's the only guy that I really feel like that
talk that talk trash when when you hit him, because
you know he for him to be his age, he
still runs the ball very very well. He runs hard,
(35:51):
he runs beyond his paths, and so he has the
right to talk trash whenever you do hit him because
he didn't have company so much in his own in
his career. Can you imagine talking trash to Darius Leonard
and you know he's going to tackle you. I would
I would not recommend that for anybody. Hey, good luck
to you and the Colts. You're a credit to the game.
You're a good dude, and I love having you on
again
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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