July 30, 2025 • 42 mins
Danny Parkins fills in for Colin
Browns owner Jimmy Haslam continues to talk about Arch Manning
Trey Hendrickson finally reports to Bengals camp
Stephen Jones claims the Cowboys don't drag their feet on contracts for extra publicity
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noone Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
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or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowver
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Welcome in, It's the Herd. I'm Danny Parkins in for
Colin from the great city of Chicago. It is an
honor and a thrill to be here. We're ahead of
the trade that line tomorrow, so we'll talk to Ken
Rosenthal later on this hour see if any team can
bridge the gap between them and the Dodgers. And if
(00:52):
a Cowboys personnel person is speaking, they're probably saying something weird,
so we'll get to that as well. But I want
to begin with noting the calendar. It's July thirtieth, and
on August thirtieth, there's a pretty big college football game
Texas and Ohio State, which means we get to see
(01:15):
for real if Arch Manning can live up to and
begin to even attempt to live up to this ridiculous
and dare I say unprecedented level of hype because I
can't wait for the game. He is the most compelling
story in college football this year. A Manning is playing
quarterback as the Heisman Trophy favorite for the team that
(01:38):
is the second favorite to win the national championship. I
am not at all surprised that there is a lot
of hype around Arch Manning. But the hype around Arch Manning,
to me, for now, should be college football hype, not
NFL hype. And if I'm saying that, I'm more of
(01:58):
an NFL guy than a college guy. So I just
think the place that we're in here is Jimmy claus
And esque. And I'll explain what I mean. In basketball,
all the time, before you've played a minute of college ball,
we are talking about you in the NBA Cooper Flag,
(02:21):
Zion Williamson, Victor Wembinnama whatever. We've seen it time and
time and time again in basketball. In football, you normally
have to have college production and college hype in order
for us to talk about you as a pro. There
aren't that many guys who came out of high school
(02:43):
before they really played any college ball, and we know
that guy's gonna be the number one pick in the draft,
and Arch Manning has ninety five career college pass attempts.
Arch Manning was on the sideline for a long time
behind Quinn yours. But he's a Manning. If his name
was Arch Jones, which is kind of a cool name,
(03:06):
we wouldn't be talking about him as the number one
overall pick. And I loved Collins theory. Jimmy Haslam, owner
of the Browns, knows the Manning family terrible NFL team
quarterback starvation, multiple first round picks. Go get Go, get
sab In, go get Arch Manning. Put the band back
together and try to save the Cleveland Browns. So there's
(03:28):
been a ton of speculation on this show and elsewhere
about Arch Manning the Cleveland. They asked Jimmy Haslam about it,
and he's not exactly fan in the flames.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I think if you know the Manning family, I would
bet that, and I don't know Arch at all.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Okay, I bet he stays in college two years, So
that's I don't even think that's worth discussing. I don't
even think it's worth discussing, he says, which, oh, maybe
he's a secret operative agent for the Manning family and
he's doing their bidding. We need to see if this
kid is legit. He might be, I don't know. Touchdown.
(04:04):
The interception ratio in college is great, but this is
a different animal. This level of hype, this level of competition,
this level of expectation, all of it is way different
than anything we've ever seen him do before. Shador Sanders
had a lot of hype because of his last name.
Arch Manning is obviously going to have an extra level
(04:24):
of hype because of his last name. But there are
just not a ton of examples in college football where
with this level or this amount, this lack of college production,
we're already slating you to be the number one pick
in the draft. Garrett nus Meyer at LSU, Drew Aller
(04:47):
at Penn State, supposed to be a good quarterback class.
There are other guys that are way more accomplished in
college than Arch Manning is at this point. Kyler Murray,
when he came out Tech High School in Texas forty
two to h talked about, oh, maybe this best high
school prospect in the state of Texas, maybe he's going
to be the number one pick, and he ended up
(05:10):
being the number one pick, but he had a transfer,
he had to sit out, there were questions about his size.
It wasn't a lock from day one, and then he
had to go out there and ball out and win
the Heisman Trophy and actually earn it. Arch is going
to get that chance. But normally, when it's a guy
(05:31):
that gets all the hype beforehand, it's tough to live
up to. Jimmy Clawson obviously didn't. Trevor Lawrence ended up
being the number one overall picks certainly hasn't lived up
to the hype thus far, even though the Jaguars gave
him that second contract. It's just much more of a
basketball thing. And while an owner saying something at a
(05:54):
training camp press conference isn't the biggest deal in the world.
When you figure Jimmy Haslam, Tennessee booster brother, governor of Tennessee, knows,
Peyton knows, the Manning family has a terrible team, would
absolutely be interested in drafting a Manning. On its surface,
(06:14):
it's not nothing. And so this isn't like protect the
kid like he's a Manning. He's at Texas, He's gonna
have hype. He'll be able to handle it. It's part
of the deal, and it's part of the burden of
carrying that last name. But I'm actually almost more interested
(06:34):
in seeing if he's good. How good is he? He
looks good, his coach says he's good. His coach, by
the way, when he was on with Colin, made him
sound a lot like his uncle Peyton. Here's sark.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
His work ethic is incredible, whether it's you know, studying tape,
studying film, studying the playbook, working at his craft, you know,
in the late room like that, that is, whether it's
innate in him or uh it was you know, handed
down from his uncles, whatever, whatever it was, his work
ethic is really pretty incredible. And and that lends itself
(07:13):
to the teammate that he is too. And again that's
not to take away the arm talent, the deep ball,
the athleticism, all that. I think all those things are
a byproduct of how hard he works at his craft
and how hard he works at being a great teammate.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
So that obviously sounds a lot like a Manning. But
let's just learn from history. This time last year, Carson
Beck was the number one pick and he ended up
going back to school. Peyton Manning went back to school,
reportedly because he didn't want to be drafted by the Jets,
(07:53):
and we know about Eli skipping out on the Chargers
to go be a Giant. Maybe that's fair, maybe it isn't.
But there is a long way to go here. This
story is way closer to the beginning than the end.
And I have no idea if he'll play one year
at college football, two years of college football, end up
(08:13):
being the number one overall pick, live up to the
last name, or ultimately fall short. It's a tremendous amount
of hype, almost impossible to live up to. Hey, you've
thrown ninety five passes in college, but you're expected to
be in the National Championship Game and win the Heisman
Trophy and oh yeah, by the way, you're a Manning.
Both your uncles were number one picks at quarterback. Almost
(08:35):
impossible for this kid to live up to the hype.
But it feels to me like we are still years
away from him in the NFL, not at all, one
season away from March Manning being the number one overall pick.
You know, it's not terribly often when you're in this
business that you get to be proven right that quickly,
but earlier in the week. And it's only Wednesday, so
(08:56):
you know we're in the middle of the week. I said,
NFL all contracts now have so much money attached to
them that holdouts are a thing of the past. Disgruntled
players are not a thing of the past, but they're
hold out to like an endangered species. They're not gone,
(09:17):
we'll see him again, but way less common in a
post Leveon Bell world. I think that was like a
real turning point for players. Le'Veon Bell sat out a
bunch of games. It seemed to impact him when he
came back, and he was never the same player since
it hurt him financially, reputationally and with production on the field.
(09:39):
But as the money in the NFL continues to grow
and grow and grow in skyrocket, it's no reason to
hold out. And I bring that up because Trey Hendrickson
was so wildly disappointed in how the Bengals were handling
him that he was in Florida when the team reported
the camp, and then yesterday he reported the camp. And
so will Trey Hendrickson sign? I don't know when will
(10:04):
he sign? I don't know, but it feels inevitable that
this thing will get done because if you just think
about it, Trey Hendrickson, he's drastically outperformed his contract where
he's expected to make sixteen million bucks this year. Holding
out from camp and not being there. He was getting
fined fifty thousand dollars a day you go to camp.
(10:27):
That stops. He wants to make presumably what TJ. Watt got,
what Miles Garrett got, because his sack production is similar
to those guys, his age is similar to those guys.
He feels like based on production, he's in that class,
even if athletically he isn't. Maybe he has more pure
pass rushing situations because of the talent of the offense,
(10:48):
that sort of thing. I don't think anyone would say
he's a better player than Miles Garrett, but he's got
the argument to be a north of thirty thirty five
million dollars per year pass rusher, no question about it.
He is underpaid relative to his production. But so let's
say the Bengals in his mind are low balling him
and they're only offering him thirty three million dollars a year, Well,
(11:09):
that's doubling his money from sixteen million, and in a
non guaranteed sport. Not many people are in a position
to turn down thirty three million dollars per season, and
those numbers are just hypothetical. But the point is that
there is so much money now that it's going to
be very difficult for guys to take a principled stand
and feel tremendously slighted when we're talking about tens of
(11:33):
millions of dollars a year to play football. And so
I think ultimately this gets done. Post Leveon bel Chris
Jones was a high profile one. Jonathan Taylor, you know,
missed a couple of games. But for the most part,
guys hold in. Guys make noise, Guys leak things to
the press, guys go on their podcasts. But ultimately all
(11:55):
of these deals get done. And in Cincinnati they look
at it like, hey, we've got an offense that is
super Bowl ready, scored nearly twenty eight points per game
last year, twenty seven point eight last five years. If
you've got an offense that scores more than twenty seven
points per game on average, you win twelve games per year.
(12:17):
Bengals won nine and that was all because of their defense.
So what do they do? They went out and hired
Al Golden to be their defensive coordinator. They drafted Shamar Stewart,
three of their first four draft picks were on the
defensive side of the ball, and probably pay Trey Hendrickson.
I'll be shocked if they don't pay Trey Hendrickson because
(12:39):
they have the money to pay Trey Hendrickson and he's
by far their best defensive player. So, assuming Trey Hendrickson
is back, and then they have this influx of draft
talent plus a new defensive coordinator Bump, and the offense
stays the same, the Bengals feel like we can win
the AFC North and in the playoffs, we've got Joe
(13:00):
Burrow and we can score thirty a game and we
can go out there and make a run. And that's
where the leverage for a guy like Hendrickson helps, because
he'd be like, Hey, you guys are trying to win
a Super Bowl for Joe Burrow, right, I'm your best
defensive player. Let's go get this thing done. And so
when you see contract stories in May, June, July, players
(13:23):
are supposed to be unhappy during negotiations. That's just kind
of how it works at this point. So I was
not surprised at all to see Trey Hendrickson report to camp,
he says, or the reports are that it's a good
faith effort to jumpstart negotiations. Smart play, don't get fined,
jump start your negotiations. Ultimately, be a little disappointed by
(13:45):
what they offer you. Double your salary at least, and
go try to win twelve football games and be a
double digitsack guy once again. Huge time of the year
in baseball right now, the Dodgers are clearly the best team,
but can one of the teams in that next group,
which is very bunched up, make a big trade to
close the gap? Ken Rosenthal in a bit, I'm Danny
(14:07):
Parkinson for Colin. This is the Hurd.
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Speaker 5 (14:18):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
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Speaker 6 (14:27):
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called
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our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
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Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah, you blover list lame in me.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Well you know what it's called over promise. You should
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for years.
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Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show and we
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Speaker 5 (15:06):
A little harder. It's gonna be the best after show
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There you go, over promising and remember you could see
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Speaker 3 (15:23):
We roll on on the Herd on Danny Parkins in
for Colin at the top of the hour. Why do
a top five for a top ten a favorite over
under when you can do all thirty two. It's gambling
season in the NFL, because it's always gambling season in
the NFL, and when UH Cowboys executives speak, it's apparently
(15:47):
silly season. I love this organization. They're the best. It's
so fun. It's thirty years since the Super Bowl, thirty
one teams and one television production. Everyone has an opinion,
love him or hate them. They have star players, they
have legitimate hype and expectation. Because it's not like they're
not bad. We sometimes talk about them like they're a
(16:10):
terrible organization. They aren't. They've drafted and developed more Pro
Bowlers than any team in the last decade other than
the Ravens. Micah Parsons is elite, Ceede Lamb is elite.
Dak Prescott highest paid quarterback, was second in the MVP
a couple of years ago. But Stephen Jones went on
the radio in Dallas and he pushed back against a
(16:31):
very common media narrative. I have a theory that maybe
you guys drag out the deals to get engagement from
the media, and it's like the best two million bucks
you can spend having to give Dak a few more. Well,
let's just start off, we don't agree on that.
Speaker 7 (16:46):
We don't drag deals at We do deals when there's
an opportunity to do a deal, and certainly no one
knows what goes on internally with a particular negotiation. But
you know, sometimes agents and players aren't ready to pull
the trigger till they see other cards play.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
So this is one of those weird times where I'm
going to try to operate in the area of gray.
Multiple things can be true. I think the Cowboys drag
out deals and it costs them some millions of dollars
on the margins. I also think we overstate how big
of a deal that is, and he is correct. Stephen
(17:27):
Jones is correct that we do not know what these
players are doing, and sometimes the best players of their position,
who really do not have any risk of getting paid,
are very interested in waiting things out. Dak Prescott had
a no tag clause and no trade clause. We haven't
(17:49):
seen a player have that kind of leverage since Tom Brady,
like it is super rare. Hey, I'm second for MVP.
We led the league in scoring. I could walk, you'd
get me, You'd get nothing for me. Now they did
that after that four year, one hundred and sixty million
(18:09):
dollar deal was smart by Dak's agent to put the
no tag, no trade clothes in. But Dak, of course,
he's like, I want to it to get paid before me.
I want Jordan Love to get paid before me, because
I want to set the bar higher, and I've got
the Cowboys over a barrel. Ceedee lamb. He didn't have
the no tag, no trade clause, but the guy who
(18:30):
was the only part of the Cowboys offense got one
hundred and eighty targets superstar player. He wanted to see
what Justin Jefferson was going to get. He didn't want
to risk low balling himself and then be passed over
by like DeVante Smith or something. He wanted to wait
it out as long as possible. Michaeh Parsons says that
(18:54):
he would have signed last year. We have no idea
if that is true or not, And we have no
idea if Micah Parsons would have accepted Nick Bosa's at
the time record setting deal for an edge rusher. Seems
like he would have reasonably, but we don't really know
whether he would have or would not have. But the
Cowboys I do think whether they would call it dragging
(19:20):
it out or not, because of the access that we
get to Jerry Jones to Stephen Jones. Like that clip
that we just played you was from local radio in Dallas.
Jerry Jones goes on local radio in Dallas weekly. During
the season. He did a press conference with Cowboys cheerleaders
behind him. He talked about Micah Parsons at the beginning
(19:43):
of training camp and took a shot at Dak Prescott.
We don't hear from Howie Roseman like that. We don't
hear from Brett Viach like that in Kansas City. We
don't hear like from Ryan Poles like that in Chicago,
or John Schneider like that in Seattle. We do not
hear from these people with the same degree of frequency
that we hear from them in Dallas. And I think
that is what directly leads to what that radio host
(20:04):
was talking about. Like, you guys, eat this up. Whether
you call it dragging it out or not, you absolutely
play the media to get into the news cycle. Because,
as I pointed out earlier in the week, I think
Jerry Jones gave away the game in the Netflix stock
in the trailer it's a soap opera, three hundred and
sixty five days a year his words. So I actually
(20:29):
think the Cowboys have a little bit of a leg
to stand on on the not dragging out deals thing.
We don't know what the players are doing in those negotiations,
and the best players with the most leverage do tend
to want to wait till the final moment in this
era of the NFL because they already are financially secure.
They make a ton of money from endorsements, they make
(20:49):
a ton of money from media deals. Dak Prescott had
already been paid that they are willing to be last
because the last guy to sign gets the most money.
So I actually think they have a lot to stand
on with that. But they have no leg to stand
on on. But we're not really perpetuating this narrative, and
we don't talk about Yeah, you do. You drag it
out as much as anybody, and you just say funny
(21:11):
things like Brian Schottenheimer's already exceeding expectations. You haven't played
a preseason game yet. How's the exceeding expectations? He rearranged
the lockers in the locker room, people are like sitting
next to different people. He hasn't done anything yet, so
that with all of that access, with these weird personalities,
(21:31):
you say weird stuff, and that's what gets the narrative going,
that's what gets the news cycle going, and that's what
keeps you out there. So I'm here for it. Keep
talking because I actually, legitimately do find them fascinating. I
know a lot of people like, well, I've got cowboys fatigue.
I don't know. They won twelve games three years in
a row, fired Mike McCarthy and hired a guy who
(21:54):
was already on the staff with the highest paid quarterback
in the NFL, a top five defensive player in the NFL,
and a top five receiver in the NFL. They are
objectively interesting. Keep talking, Jones family. I absolutely love it.
I want to talk now, though, about a guy who
I wish was a cowboy, because as much hype as
Travis Hunter is getting, I actually do not think it
(22:16):
is nearly enough for what he is trying to do
and what I believe he is about to accomplish. We
know that Travis Hunter is special, but for some reason,
people keep asking the same question about Travis Hunter. Can
you play both sides? Is it possible to do this
in the NFL. Doesn't matter what the Jaguars say, doesn't
(22:39):
matter how they drafted him, doesn't matter how they're working
them out at practice. He every time he speaks, he
kept being keeps being asked these questions. And here's the
latest on how Travis Hunter responded to it.
Speaker 8 (22:49):
I need to be able to progress everything fast quick.
If the offense change on defensive. When I'm on defensis
far as the offense change the scrimp, I gotta know
what I'm doing right away, and as the offensive the
change play, I gotta know what I'm doing right away.
So I like that we starting off slow, get me adjusted,
makeing sure I know where I need to be on
one side of the ball each day, and then it
all come together.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
He says that the people that doubt that he can
do this, the haters, make him smile. I just want
to be very clear and on the record, Travis, I
do not doubt that you can do this. I am
firmly in your camp, and I don't think it is
as crazy as many people are making it out to be.
(23:30):
And I understand that someone who looks like me, questioning
the analysis of the former NFL players who say this
is impossible feels a little ridiculous. But I think a
place that media, common people, and even ex athletes are
way behind on is how incredible the modern athlete is
(23:53):
and how incredible sports science is. We've seen great athletes before, right,
Bo Jackson historically great athlete, Deion Sanders historically great athlete,
best cornerback in the NFL, played receiver. His best year
as a receiver is like thirty six catches. It was
the year he took off from baseball. We've seen guys
try to play both ways before, but nowadays, sports science,
(24:16):
sleep science, nutritionists, massage, therapy, everything that these guys can do,
it's different. It used to be, hey, you're a running back.
Once you hit twenty seven, you fall off the clip.
Now we've got Derrick Henry at thirty approaching eighteen hundred
yard seasons. It's just a different era. These guys are better.
Lebron is playing twenty two years in the NBA. Tom
(24:39):
Brady is winning MVPs and Super Bowl MVPs into his forties.
Aaron Rodgers is still playing. Athletes have just gotten better.
So why can't Travis Hunter be a great defensive player
and a great offensive player in the NFL when in
college he was a great defensive player and great offensive player.
(25:00):
He won the Bulletnikoff Award and the Banneric Award. He
won the award for the best Receiver. He won an
award for the best defensive player in college. And this
is one of my favorite stats because I feel like
this is going to fall this year. This record most
snaps played by a single player in a season. It's
(25:20):
not a household name, but Malcolm Jenkins in twenty fourteen
and twenty fifteen was over thirteen hundred and fifty snaps.
He played every game as a corner and then he
also would play on the coverage units on special teams,
so it was thirteen hundred and fifty seven snaps. As
the record for most snaps in a season by an
NFL player, Travis Hunter played fourteen hundred and eighty three
(25:44):
snaps in thirteen games last year in thirteen games. So
if Travis Hunter shatters Malcolm Jenkins's record for most snaps
in a season as a rookie and at the rate
that he did it in college, if he did it
(26:04):
in the NFL, he would break it by like four
hundred snaps. But let's assume that they're going to slow
play it a little bit. He can change the sport.
He can change how we think about what a world
class athlete in football is able to do. And that
to me is excited because in baseball with Shoeyo Tani,
it's blowing all of our minds. But you've got to
(26:27):
do it from a young age. You've got to keep
doing it from a young age. And maybe we will
see the next show Heyo Tani in ten or fifteen years.
If Travis Hunter proves that he can do this, we're
going to see it much quicker in the NFL. Hey,
you're an awesome athlete. Can you catch? Let's put you
out there on both sides of the ball. And I
think that the possibilities and the expectations of what Jacksonville
(26:51):
is trying to do with this kid is so potentially
game changing in landscape shifting that if he just wasn't
in Jacksonville, we'd be talking it way more. He's by
far one of the most interesting stories of this upcoming
NFL season, and I just want to be very clear,
he will do it, and I expect him to do it.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
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Org number thirty thirty. Welcome back in to the Herd.
I'm Danny Parkins in for Colin.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
Soon.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
You'll be able to catch me on first things first,
but you can always catch this man. He is a
staple of FtF. Former NFL Coach of the Year Eric
Mangini kind enough to join us on the Herd. Coach,
thank you very much for the time. Looking forward to
working with you more closely soon.
Speaker 9 (27:58):
Yeah, that's going to be fun.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
It's good.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
It's gonna be fun.
Speaker 9 (28:01):
It's going to we can give Nick a hard time together.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Oh, it's one of my passions in life.
Speaker 9 (28:09):
It's become a passion of mine as well.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
It's fun.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Fun.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
You know, the guy who says he's undefeated in sports arguments,
It's fun to kind of back him into a corner
and laugh at him. But help me out with these stories.
You know, Terry McLaurin, he was holding out but then
he's back. Trey Hendrickson holding out and then he's back.
You obviously would deal with this, but Hendrickson's the most
high profile one. Are you surprised at all on how
(28:35):
this has gone down between Hendrickson and the Bengals.
Speaker 9 (28:39):
I'm not completely surprised at all. And you were talking
about before the break the fifty thousand dollars fine, and
the difference for the fifty thousand dollars fine now versus
what it was before is that fine is not forgivable.
So when these guys are getting hit with that fifty
thousand dollars number, even when the deal is done, someone's
(28:59):
got to pay that number. So either the team's got
to compensate the player for the fifty thousand dollars per day.
So look, if you go over the course of a month,
it could be over a million dollars million and a
half dollars or the player's got to deal with that,
where previously, when you redid the contract, you could forgive
the fine, So those numbers are more meaningful and with Hendrickson.
Hendrickson's situation, he signed the initial four year deal, and
(29:23):
then two years into that deal he wanted some more money,
so they gave him eight million dollars up front, they
gave another eight million dollars guaranteed, and they added a
year to his deal, which is this year right now,
which he's unhappy about. So I understand from an organization's perspective,
the organization's perspective that they don't want to have to
keep redoing deals. And I understand from Hendrickson's perspective too,
(29:45):
He's he has been outstanding, and he's been outstanding on
a team that is in desperate need of defensive players
that are outstanding. So he's got a lot of leverage
as well. So they've got to find some sort of
happy medium to give the team a chance to be successful.
And what's been in Cincinnati's biggest problem is is slow starts. Right,
(30:06):
slow starts have killed them. So if they don't get
Hendrickson back to the start of the season and he
doesn't play as well as he could, that could be that,
you know, part of another Cincinnati slow start and another
problematic finish of the season for him.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
So in Dallas. There's also a contract story, but frankly,
I find the contract stories a little tedious because they
ultimately they ultimately get done and we're parsing millions of
dollars for millionaires already. But the big story in Dallas
to me anyway, is Brian Schottenheimer and where they go
from there. Michael will get done shot. He was on
(30:42):
your staff, so you know him. I was surprised that
they hired someone who's already with Mike McCarthy. What will
the differences be between Schottenheimer and McCarthy.
Speaker 9 (30:54):
You know, I I think Brian is an underrated candidate.
And when I hire Brian, one of the things that
I really liked about him is not only was he
smart and had good relationships with players, but he was
also flexible. So he had a system that he ran
that was really had given us problems in New England
that I wanted to bring with me to the Jets.
(31:15):
He was willing to run that system, but he was
willing to incorporate other things into that system in order
to make it our system, in order to take advantage
of the players that we had. And I loved that
flexibility that he showed. And now Look, it's been quite
a few years since then, so he's learned a lot,
he's got a ton of experience, and he's a first
(31:35):
time head coach, just like all these first time head
coaches are. But I think he's got just as much
potential to be successful there as any other any of
the other first time head coaches.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
I want to follow up on that. I feel like
I always hear coaches say I'm going to build the
system around my players, around the personnel that we have.
But then there are so many examples. And I'm a
Bears fan. I saw it in Chicago. You know, Matt
nag You trying to fit Justin Fields into his system
was probably the most prominent example of my fandom where
it was very clear that they weren't really building a
(32:07):
system around the player. They were trying to fit the
player into their system. Why is that so difficult for
so many coaches to actually do build a system around
the talent that they have.
Speaker 9 (32:19):
Well, when you're raised in a system, and when you've
had success in a system and you've seen it work
at a really high level, which most of these guys
who have gotten head coaching jobs that that's been the case,
and then you go to a new program and that's
your expertise. You tend to want to bring all those
good things and show the group, hey, this has real value,
(32:41):
which is which is great, which is which which over
time can work really well. But you also have to
understand that and this is happening right now a lot
Denny in training campuses, you go into a season with
who you want to be, and then the good coaching
staffs figure out who they need to be. That's the
different between between good staffs and great sass is knowing
(33:03):
who you want to be and then realizing who you
need to be in order to be successful that year.
And you have to you have to have enough humbleness
and openness to say this isn't going to work right now.
It's it's not that it's bad, it's just not good
for us right now. And what's best for the player
is that we do X, Y and D that he's
(33:26):
really good at. And when I brought Brett Favre into
New York, I wasn't going to try to run our
system that didn't fit Brett Farv. I was going to
do the things that Brett Farv did really well to
make sure he was the best version of himself. And
you saw that in Tampa Bay with Tom Brady. Initially
they were doing you know, they weren't doing what Tom
did really well. When they pivoted towards what Tom did
(33:48):
really well and ended up bringing to the Super Bowl.
And it's the same thing with young players too. You
you just gotta you got to be able to take
a step back and say, hey, this is good. It's
just not good for us right now. The thing is
what's good for this player who's leading us.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
I think one of the most fascinating stories in the
NFL this year is Travis Hunter because of what Jacksonville
is trying to do with him, and they are saying,
we're not only going to try it, we're gonna do it.
We're going to play this guy on both sides of
the ball. At camp so far, he's split in terms
of first team reps on offense and defense. It's been
fifty to fifty. And coming up they're going to do
the first practice where he does both in the same day.
(34:25):
How would you manage an athlete like that as a coach.
Speaker 9 (34:29):
Yeah, So in New England we had Troy Brown, the
different athlete he had played. I think he was in
his eleventh year as a wide receiver and never played
on defense and pro football. But we worked him a
camp and he ended up playing on defense as well
as offense, and that year he played more defensive snaps
than offensive snaps. But my approach with Travis Hunter, and
(34:49):
I think what would be most efficient is start him
on defense. Let him play full time on defense, because
you can't guarantee what the other team offense is going
to do. So let's say you want to have him
in dime defense and they come out and they're playing
a bunch of things where you're gonna have to play
more dime than you wanted to, and he's got to
play more refs.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
You don't have control.
Speaker 9 (35:11):
But if you started on defense, he's playing full time
there and then you play him situationally offensively. That to
me is the best approach to it because you control
when he goes in. So playman on third down, play
him in the red zone, and play him in two
minute on offense, and play him full time on defense
and control what you can control with the athlete and
(35:33):
give him the best chance to maximize his talents and
impact on both sides.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
How many guys do you think are going to be
raising their hands and being like I can do it too. Yeah.
Speaker 9 (35:44):
Yeah, Look, there's a lot of guys who believe they
can do it. And even with Travis, the difference is
every athlete he faces is good, and even the guys
that are considered not great in the NFL are probably
on the highest end of the guys he faced while
he was at Colorado. So to go down in and
down out against the best athletes that he's faced, it's
(36:06):
hard to do. And we're not talking about twelve games.
We're talking about seventeen games. And that doesn't even account
for the preseason, That doesn't account for how much longer
the season is, that doesn't account for how much bigger
the playbook is on offense, how much bigger the playbook
is on defense. And as much as he wants to
do this, organizationally, they're going to have to protect him
from himself because the wear and tear is a big thing,
(36:29):
and they want him all season long, and they want
him to have a very long, productive career. So I
hope they don't burn them out here too early and
they let this build at a rate that's sustainable.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
So we're going to be working together a lot more
on first things first, and so you've been exposed to
Nick Wright's lists, and so now I want to show
you a perfect list for a change. I just felt
like i'd help you out a little bit.
Speaker 9 (36:52):
Finally, I'm going to get a perfect list exactly.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
I see no flaws in my top ten quarterback list.
Coach Eagles fans seem to have a lot of problems
with it, but I'm curious. Mahomes one, Herbert five, Baker nine,
Jalen Hurts ten. It looks perfect to me. What say you?
Speaker 9 (37:13):
Okay, So looking at this as I absolutely agree with
Mahomes at one. I think your two, three, four are
completely interchangeable. I think if you put those three players
up and said to all thirty two teams you can
draft any one of these three players, it would probably
be split, you know, in thirds in terms of who
guys would want based off of the system they had
(37:33):
or which way they were leaning towards. So so those
guys are to me interchangeable.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, there's a clear love for, there's a there's a
clear ten for. The debate is five through ten.
Speaker 9 (37:43):
Yeah, so even even five through ten, I would I
went Jaydeen Daniels at five, and I know, you know,
we're going into the sophomore year and there could be
the sophomore slump and people are going to catch up.
I do think that the difference is not only what
he did as as a runner, but his accuracy. To me,
(38:05):
I would I would push him to that five spot,
with Stafford being my slash there Stafford and Jayden Daniels.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
I love Stafford.
Speaker 9 (38:15):
The fact that he won the Super Bowl, I played
against coach against it for a long time caused problems.
But his age to me, bumps him to six. And
then after that, I get to Justin Herbert where he is.
I struggle with his performance in the playoffs. That's why
I think you got to bump Jalen Hurts. You got
to give him credit for for what he's done in
(38:36):
the biggest moments. So I'd probably bump him up and
and he and Justin are kind of in that next area.
And then with with Jared and Baker, I mean, it
just depends on what you're like. I mean, I'm a
little hot.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
I'll take it.
Speaker 9 (38:54):
I'll take it it is. I don't love six and seven.
I'm more five and six. Justin, Justin Jared Baker. They're
kind of a group. And then Jay, I get why
you have Jalen at ten, but you do have to
I think you got a great amount of curve based
off of performance in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
He's been unbelievable in the playoffs. The Steelers are such
a fascinating team for a number of reasons. I actually
like the moves they made in a vacuum for this year.
There's huge questions about the long term ramifications, but I
thought that they made sense. My question is, let's say
I'm wrong, and let's say this goes poorly, and it
is a seven win season, first losing season under Mike Tomlin,
(39:38):
and we're now at nine going on ten years without
a playoff win, and there's a handful of offensive coordinators
and a bunch of different quarterbacks. Is there anything that
could actually turn up a hot seat on a guy
like Mike Tomlin Given that Pittsburgh has had three coaches
in the history of their organization.
Speaker 9 (39:57):
I don't think there should be huge Mike Tomlin fan
And and what people forget is how hard it is to
deal with transitioning after a great quarterback. So Bill Belichick
after a great quarterback, not very good, right, Sean Payton
without Drew Brees pretty different equation than than what we
(40:18):
were used to seeing. And and it's the same thing,
you know, Ben Brothlisberger, and they haven't had the losing season,
which to me is remarkable, but they haven't found their
answer at quarterback. And finding that answer a quarterback, everybody's
chasing it. And that's why when when these great quarterbacks
become available, all the teams that are quarterbacks starved, they
(40:40):
go and see if they can they can hit on them. So,
whether it's Aaron Rodgers at the Jets and now Aaron
Rodgers in Pittsburgh, or you know, take your pick. It
was us with with Brett Favre trying to capture some
of that magic Russell Wilson when he got traded. It's
you're you're hoping that this is the answer. You're hoping
(41:02):
that Aaron Rodgers is over, you know, wanting to be GM,
wanting to be head coach and now just wants to
be a great player and a great teammate and a
great contributor. Maybe it's not the level we've been used
to to seeing him at his high point, but hopefully
it's a better level than we've seen him since since
he's left Green Bay Football.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
Season's here, coach. This feels good. It feels good to
have hype. It feels good to have like we got
a game on Thursday. Are you a play for guys
in the preseason guy, or are you, you know, risk
averse like me, I'm scared of injury.
Speaker 9 (41:37):
Yeah, it's it's this is always the challenging part. So
it's it's this time of the year figuring out whether
you want to play your stars or not. And then
then it's at the end of the season when you've
made the playoffs and you're trying to figure out whether
you want to play your stars or not. And it's
always the the what is it Russ versus rest philosophy,
And I I think you want to get some reps
(42:00):
for your guys and have them feel what it's like
to work together, even if it's a limited exposure, so
that the first time they're they're seeing action isn't in
game one. But you know, I understand why a lot
of head coaches say, yeah, I'd rather him be rusty
and available than hurt and not available.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
Eric Mangini, Fox Sports NFL analyst, former Coach of the Year,
looking forward to working with you on FtF and we'll
be watching later on today. Thank you coach.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noone Pacific. 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 Fox Sports Radio
or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowver
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Welcome in, It's the Herd. I'm Danny Parkins in for
Colin from the great city of Chicago. It is an
honor and a thrill to be here. We're ahead of
the trade that line tomorrow, so we'll talk to Ken
Rosenthal later on this hour see if any team can
bridge the gap between them and the Dodgers. And if
(00:52):
a Cowboys personnel person is speaking, they're probably saying something weird,
so we'll get to that as well. But I want
to begin with noting the calendar. It's July thirtieth, and
on August thirtieth, there's a pretty big college football game
Texas and Ohio State, which means we get to see
(01:15):
for real if Arch Manning can live up to and
begin to even attempt to live up to this ridiculous
and dare I say unprecedented level of hype because I
can't wait for the game. He is the most compelling
story in college football this year. A Manning is playing
quarterback as the Heisman Trophy favorite for the team that
(01:38):
is the second favorite to win the national championship. I
am not at all surprised that there is a lot
of hype around Arch Manning. But the hype around Arch Manning,
to me, for now, should be college football hype, not
NFL hype. And if I'm saying that, I'm more of
(01:58):
an NFL guy than a college guy. So I just
think the place that we're in here is Jimmy claus
And esque. And I'll explain what I mean. In basketball,
all the time, before you've played a minute of college ball,
we are talking about you in the NBA Cooper Flag,
(02:21):
Zion Williamson, Victor Wembinnama whatever. We've seen it time and
time and time again in basketball. In football, you normally
have to have college production and college hype in order
for us to talk about you as a pro. There
aren't that many guys who came out of high school
(02:43):
before they really played any college ball, and we know
that guy's gonna be the number one pick in the draft,
and Arch Manning has ninety five career college pass attempts.
Arch Manning was on the sideline for a long time
behind Quinn yours. But he's a Manning. If his name
was Arch Jones, which is kind of a cool name,
(03:06):
we wouldn't be talking about him as the number one
overall pick. And I loved Collins theory. Jimmy Haslam, owner
of the Browns, knows the Manning family terrible NFL team
quarterback starvation, multiple first round picks. Go get Go, get
sab In, go get Arch Manning. Put the band back
together and try to save the Cleveland Browns. So there's
(03:28):
been a ton of speculation on this show and elsewhere
about Arch Manning the Cleveland. They asked Jimmy Haslam about it,
and he's not exactly fan in the flames.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I think if you know the Manning family, I would
bet that, and I don't know Arch at all.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Okay, I bet he stays in college two years, So
that's I don't even think that's worth discussing. I don't
even think it's worth discussing, he says, which, oh, maybe
he's a secret operative agent for the Manning family and
he's doing their bidding. We need to see if this
kid is legit. He might be, I don't know. Touchdown.
(04:04):
The interception ratio in college is great, but this is
a different animal. This level of hype, this level of competition,
this level of expectation, all of it is way different
than anything we've ever seen him do before. Shador Sanders
had a lot of hype because of his last name.
Arch Manning is obviously going to have an extra level
(04:24):
of hype because of his last name. But there are
just not a ton of examples in college football where
with this level or this amount, this lack of college production,
we're already slating you to be the number one pick
in the draft. Garrett nus Meyer at LSU, Drew Aller
(04:47):
at Penn State, supposed to be a good quarterback class.
There are other guys that are way more accomplished in
college than Arch Manning is at this point. Kyler Murray,
when he came out Tech High School in Texas forty
two to h talked about, oh, maybe this best high
school prospect in the state of Texas, maybe he's going
to be the number one pick, and he ended up
(05:10):
being the number one pick, but he had a transfer,
he had to sit out, there were questions about his size.
It wasn't a lock from day one, and then he
had to go out there and ball out and win
the Heisman Trophy and actually earn it. Arch is going
to get that chance. But normally, when it's a guy
(05:31):
that gets all the hype beforehand, it's tough to live
up to. Jimmy Clawson obviously didn't. Trevor Lawrence ended up
being the number one overall picks certainly hasn't lived up
to the hype thus far, even though the Jaguars gave
him that second contract. It's just much more of a
basketball thing. And while an owner saying something at a
(05:54):
training camp press conference isn't the biggest deal in the world.
When you figure Jimmy Haslam, Tennessee booster brother, governor of Tennessee, knows,
Peyton knows, the Manning family has a terrible team, would
absolutely be interested in drafting a Manning. On its surface,
(06:14):
it's not nothing. And so this isn't like protect the
kid like he's a Manning. He's at Texas, He's gonna
have hype. He'll be able to handle it. It's part
of the deal, and it's part of the burden of
carrying that last name. But I'm actually almost more interested
(06:34):
in seeing if he's good. How good is he? He
looks good, his coach says he's good. His coach, by
the way, when he was on with Colin, made him
sound a lot like his uncle Peyton. Here's sark.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
His work ethic is incredible, whether it's you know, studying tape,
studying film, studying the playbook, working at his craft, you know,
in the late room like that, that is, whether it's
innate in him or uh it was you know, handed
down from his uncles, whatever, whatever it was, his work
ethic is really pretty incredible. And and that lends itself
(07:13):
to the teammate that he is too. And again that's
not to take away the arm talent, the deep ball,
the athleticism, all that. I think all those things are
a byproduct of how hard he works at his craft
and how hard he works at being a great teammate.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
So that obviously sounds a lot like a Manning. But
let's just learn from history. This time last year, Carson
Beck was the number one pick and he ended up
going back to school. Peyton Manning went back to school,
reportedly because he didn't want to be drafted by the Jets,
(07:53):
and we know about Eli skipping out on the Chargers
to go be a Giant. Maybe that's fair, maybe it isn't.
But there is a long way to go here. This
story is way closer to the beginning than the end.
And I have no idea if he'll play one year
at college football, two years of college football, end up
(08:13):
being the number one overall pick, live up to the
last name, or ultimately fall short. It's a tremendous amount
of hype, almost impossible to live up to. Hey, you've
thrown ninety five passes in college, but you're expected to
be in the National Championship Game and win the Heisman
Trophy and oh yeah, by the way, you're a Manning.
Both your uncles were number one picks at quarterback. Almost
(08:35):
impossible for this kid to live up to the hype.
But it feels to me like we are still years
away from him in the NFL, not at all, one
season away from March Manning being the number one overall pick.
You know, it's not terribly often when you're in this
business that you get to be proven right that quickly,
but earlier in the week. And it's only Wednesday, so
(08:56):
you know we're in the middle of the week. I said,
NFL all contracts now have so much money attached to
them that holdouts are a thing of the past. Disgruntled
players are not a thing of the past, but they're
hold out to like an endangered species. They're not gone,
(09:17):
we'll see him again, but way less common in a
post Leveon Bell world. I think that was like a
real turning point for players. Le'Veon Bell sat out a
bunch of games. It seemed to impact him when he
came back, and he was never the same player since
it hurt him financially, reputationally and with production on the field.
(09:39):
But as the money in the NFL continues to grow
and grow and grow in skyrocket, it's no reason to
hold out. And I bring that up because Trey Hendrickson
was so wildly disappointed in how the Bengals were handling
him that he was in Florida when the team reported
the camp, and then yesterday he reported the camp. And
so will Trey Hendrickson sign? I don't know when will
(10:04):
he sign? I don't know, but it feels inevitable that
this thing will get done because if you just think
about it, Trey Hendrickson, he's drastically outperformed his contract where
he's expected to make sixteen million bucks this year. Holding
out from camp and not being there. He was getting
fined fifty thousand dollars a day you go to camp.
(10:27):
That stops. He wants to make presumably what TJ. Watt got,
what Miles Garrett got, because his sack production is similar
to those guys, his age is similar to those guys.
He feels like based on production, he's in that class,
even if athletically he isn't. Maybe he has more pure
pass rushing situations because of the talent of the offense,
(10:48):
that sort of thing. I don't think anyone would say
he's a better player than Miles Garrett, but he's got
the argument to be a north of thirty thirty five
million dollars per year pass rusher, no question about it.
He is underpaid relative to his production. But so let's
say the Bengals in his mind are low balling him
and they're only offering him thirty three million dollars a year, Well,
(11:09):
that's doubling his money from sixteen million, and in a
non guaranteed sport. Not many people are in a position
to turn down thirty three million dollars per season, and
those numbers are just hypothetical. But the point is that
there is so much money now that it's going to
be very difficult for guys to take a principled stand
and feel tremendously slighted when we're talking about tens of
(11:33):
millions of dollars a year to play football. And so
I think ultimately this gets done. Post Leveon bel Chris
Jones was a high profile one. Jonathan Taylor, you know,
missed a couple of games. But for the most part,
guys hold in. Guys make noise, Guys leak things to
the press, guys go on their podcasts. But ultimately all
(11:55):
of these deals get done. And in Cincinnati they look
at it like, hey, we've got an offense that is
super Bowl ready, scored nearly twenty eight points per game
last year, twenty seven point eight last five years. If
you've got an offense that scores more than twenty seven
points per game on average, you win twelve games per year.
(12:17):
Bengals won nine and that was all because of their defense.
So what do they do? They went out and hired
Al Golden to be their defensive coordinator. They drafted Shamar Stewart,
three of their first four draft picks were on the
defensive side of the ball, and probably pay Trey Hendrickson.
I'll be shocked if they don't pay Trey Hendrickson because
(12:39):
they have the money to pay Trey Hendrickson and he's
by far their best defensive player. So, assuming Trey Hendrickson
is back, and then they have this influx of draft
talent plus a new defensive coordinator Bump, and the offense
stays the same, the Bengals feel like we can win
the AFC North and in the playoffs, we've got Joe
(13:00):
Burrow and we can score thirty a game and we
can go out there and make a run. And that's
where the leverage for a guy like Hendrickson helps, because
he'd be like, Hey, you guys are trying to win
a Super Bowl for Joe Burrow, right, I'm your best
defensive player. Let's go get this thing done. And so
when you see contract stories in May, June, July, players
(13:23):
are supposed to be unhappy during negotiations. That's just kind
of how it works at this point. So I was
not surprised at all to see Trey Hendrickson report to camp,
he says, or the reports are that it's a good
faith effort to jumpstart negotiations. Smart play, don't get fined,
jump start your negotiations. Ultimately, be a little disappointed by
(13:45):
what they offer you. Double your salary at least, and
go try to win twelve football games and be a
double digitsack guy once again. Huge time of the year
in baseball right now, the Dodgers are clearly the best team,
but can one of the teams in that next group,
which is very bunched up, make a big trade to
close the gap? Ken Rosenthal in a bit, I'm Danny
(14:07):
Parkinson for Colin. This is the Hurd.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing, we
never have enough time to get to everything we want
to get to.
Speaker 6 (14:27):
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called
over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in
our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah, you blover list lame in me.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Well you know what it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.
Speaker 6 (14:46):
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised. Well, if
you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make sure you
check out over Promise and also uncensored by the way,
so maybe we'll go at it even.
Speaker 5 (15:06):
A little harder. It's gonna be the best after show
podcast of all time.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
There you go, over promising and remember you could see
it on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised
with Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
We roll on on the Herd on Danny Parkins in
for Colin at the top of the hour. Why do
a top five for a top ten a favorite over
under when you can do all thirty two. It's gambling
season in the NFL, because it's always gambling season in
the NFL, and when UH Cowboys executives speak, it's apparently
(15:47):
silly season. I love this organization. They're the best. It's
so fun. It's thirty years since the Super Bowl, thirty
one teams and one television production. Everyone has an opinion,
love him or hate them. They have star players, they
have legitimate hype and expectation. Because it's not like they're
not bad. We sometimes talk about them like they're a
(16:10):
terrible organization. They aren't. They've drafted and developed more Pro
Bowlers than any team in the last decade other than
the Ravens. Micah Parsons is elite, Ceede Lamb is elite.
Dak Prescott highest paid quarterback, was second in the MVP
a couple of years ago. But Stephen Jones went on
the radio in Dallas and he pushed back against a
(16:31):
very common media narrative. I have a theory that maybe
you guys drag out the deals to get engagement from
the media, and it's like the best two million bucks
you can spend having to give Dak a few more. Well,
let's just start off, we don't agree on that.
Speaker 7 (16:46):
We don't drag deals at We do deals when there's
an opportunity to do a deal, and certainly no one
knows what goes on internally with a particular negotiation. But
you know, sometimes agents and players aren't ready to pull
the trigger till they see other cards play.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
So this is one of those weird times where I'm
going to try to operate in the area of gray.
Multiple things can be true. I think the Cowboys drag
out deals and it costs them some millions of dollars
on the margins. I also think we overstate how big
of a deal that is, and he is correct. Stephen
(17:27):
Jones is correct that we do not know what these
players are doing, and sometimes the best players of their position,
who really do not have any risk of getting paid,
are very interested in waiting things out. Dak Prescott had
a no tag clause and no trade clause. We haven't
(17:49):
seen a player have that kind of leverage since Tom Brady,
like it is super rare. Hey, I'm second for MVP.
We led the league in scoring. I could walk, you'd
get me, You'd get nothing for me. Now they did
that after that four year, one hundred and sixty million
(18:09):
dollar deal was smart by Dak's agent to put the
no tag, no trade clothes in. But Dak, of course,
he's like, I want to it to get paid before me.
I want Jordan Love to get paid before me, because
I want to set the bar higher, and I've got
the Cowboys over a barrel. Ceedee lamb. He didn't have
the no tag, no trade clause, but the guy who
(18:30):
was the only part of the Cowboys offense got one
hundred and eighty targets superstar player. He wanted to see
what Justin Jefferson was going to get. He didn't want
to risk low balling himself and then be passed over
by like DeVante Smith or something. He wanted to wait
it out as long as possible. Michaeh Parsons says that
(18:54):
he would have signed last year. We have no idea
if that is true or not, And we have no
idea if Micah Parsons would have accepted Nick Bosa's at
the time record setting deal for an edge rusher. Seems
like he would have reasonably, but we don't really know
whether he would have or would not have. But the
Cowboys I do think whether they would call it dragging
(19:20):
it out or not, because of the access that we
get to Jerry Jones to Stephen Jones. Like that clip
that we just played you was from local radio in Dallas.
Jerry Jones goes on local radio in Dallas weekly. During
the season. He did a press conference with Cowboys cheerleaders
behind him. He talked about Micah Parsons at the beginning
(19:43):
of training camp and took a shot at Dak Prescott.
We don't hear from Howie Roseman like that. We don't
hear from Brett Viach like that in Kansas City. We
don't hear like from Ryan Poles like that in Chicago,
or John Schneider like that in Seattle. We do not
hear from these people with the same degree of frequency
that we hear from them in Dallas. And I think
that is what directly leads to what that radio host
(20:04):
was talking about. Like, you guys, eat this up. Whether
you call it dragging it out or not, you absolutely
play the media to get into the news cycle. Because,
as I pointed out earlier in the week, I think
Jerry Jones gave away the game in the Netflix stock
in the trailer it's a soap opera, three hundred and
sixty five days a year his words. So I actually
(20:29):
think the Cowboys have a little bit of a leg
to stand on on the not dragging out deals thing.
We don't know what the players are doing in those negotiations,
and the best players with the most leverage do tend
to want to wait till the final moment in this
era of the NFL because they already are financially secure.
They make a ton of money from endorsements, they make
(20:49):
a ton of money from media deals. Dak Prescott had
already been paid that they are willing to be last
because the last guy to sign gets the most money.
So I actually think they have a lot to stand
on with that. But they have no leg to stand
on on. But we're not really perpetuating this narrative, and
we don't talk about Yeah, you do. You drag it
out as much as anybody, and you just say funny
(21:11):
things like Brian Schottenheimer's already exceeding expectations. You haven't played
a preseason game yet. How's the exceeding expectations? He rearranged
the lockers in the locker room, people are like sitting
next to different people. He hasn't done anything yet, so
that with all of that access, with these weird personalities,
(21:31):
you say weird stuff, and that's what gets the narrative going,
that's what gets the news cycle going, and that's what
keeps you out there. So I'm here for it. Keep
talking because I actually, legitimately do find them fascinating. I
know a lot of people like, well, I've got cowboys fatigue.
I don't know. They won twelve games three years in
a row, fired Mike McCarthy and hired a guy who
(21:54):
was already on the staff with the highest paid quarterback
in the NFL, a top five defensive player in the NFL,
and a top five receiver in the NFL. They are
objectively interesting. Keep talking, Jones family. I absolutely love it.
I want to talk now, though, about a guy who
I wish was a cowboy, because as much hype as
Travis Hunter is getting, I actually do not think it
(22:16):
is nearly enough for what he is trying to do
and what I believe he is about to accomplish. We
know that Travis Hunter is special, but for some reason,
people keep asking the same question about Travis Hunter. Can
you play both sides? Is it possible to do this
in the NFL. Doesn't matter what the Jaguars say, doesn't
(22:39):
matter how they drafted him, doesn't matter how they're working
them out at practice. He every time he speaks, he
kept being keeps being asked these questions. And here's the
latest on how Travis Hunter responded to it.
Speaker 8 (22:49):
I need to be able to progress everything fast quick.
If the offense change on defensive. When I'm on defensis
far as the offense change the scrimp, I gotta know
what I'm doing right away, and as the offensive the
change play, I gotta know what I'm doing right away.
So I like that we starting off slow, get me adjusted,
makeing sure I know where I need to be on
one side of the ball each day, and then it
all come together.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
He says that the people that doubt that he can
do this, the haters, make him smile. I just want
to be very clear and on the record, Travis, I
do not doubt that you can do this. I am
firmly in your camp, and I don't think it is
as crazy as many people are making it out to be.
(23:30):
And I understand that someone who looks like me, questioning
the analysis of the former NFL players who say this
is impossible feels a little ridiculous. But I think a
place that media, common people, and even ex athletes are
way behind on is how incredible the modern athlete is
(23:53):
and how incredible sports science is. We've seen great athletes before, right,
Bo Jackson historically great athlete, Deion Sanders historically great athlete,
best cornerback in the NFL, played receiver. His best year
as a receiver is like thirty six catches. It was
the year he took off from baseball. We've seen guys
try to play both ways before, but nowadays, sports science,
(24:16):
sleep science, nutritionists, massage, therapy, everything that these guys can do,
it's different. It used to be, hey, you're a running back.
Once you hit twenty seven, you fall off the clip.
Now we've got Derrick Henry at thirty approaching eighteen hundred
yard seasons. It's just a different era. These guys are better.
Lebron is playing twenty two years in the NBA. Tom
(24:39):
Brady is winning MVPs and Super Bowl MVPs into his forties.
Aaron Rodgers is still playing. Athletes have just gotten better.
So why can't Travis Hunter be a great defensive player
and a great offensive player in the NFL when in
college he was a great defensive player and great offensive player.
(25:00):
He won the Bulletnikoff Award and the Banneric Award. He
won the award for the best Receiver. He won an
award for the best defensive player in college. And this
is one of my favorite stats because I feel like
this is going to fall this year. This record most
snaps played by a single player in a season. It's
(25:20):
not a household name, but Malcolm Jenkins in twenty fourteen
and twenty fifteen was over thirteen hundred and fifty snaps.
He played every game as a corner and then he
also would play on the coverage units on special teams,
so it was thirteen hundred and fifty seven snaps. As
the record for most snaps in a season by an
NFL player, Travis Hunter played fourteen hundred and eighty three
(25:44):
snaps in thirteen games last year in thirteen games. So
if Travis Hunter shatters Malcolm Jenkins's record for most snaps
in a season as a rookie and at the rate
that he did it in college, if he did it
(26:04):
in the NFL, he would break it by like four
hundred snaps. But let's assume that they're going to slow
play it a little bit. He can change the sport.
He can change how we think about what a world
class athlete in football is able to do. And that
to me is excited because in baseball with Shoeyo Tani,
it's blowing all of our minds. But you've got to
(26:27):
do it from a young age. You've got to keep
doing it from a young age. And maybe we will
see the next show Heyo Tani in ten or fifteen years.
If Travis Hunter proves that he can do this, we're
going to see it much quicker in the NFL. Hey,
you're an awesome athlete. Can you catch? Let's put you
out there on both sides of the ball. And I
think that the possibilities and the expectations of what Jacksonville
(26:51):
is trying to do with this kid is so potentially
game changing in landscape shifting that if he just wasn't
in Jacksonville, we'd be talking it way more. He's by
far one of the most interesting stories of this upcoming
NFL season, and I just want to be very clear,
he will do it, and I expect him to do it.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
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Org number thirty thirty. Welcome back in to the Herd.
I'm Danny Parkins in for Colin.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
Soon.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
You'll be able to catch me on first things first,
but you can always catch this man. He is a
staple of FtF. Former NFL Coach of the Year Eric
Mangini kind enough to join us on the Herd. Coach,
thank you very much for the time. Looking forward to
working with you more closely soon.
Speaker 9 (27:58):
Yeah, that's going to be fun.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
It's good.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
It's gonna be fun.
Speaker 9 (28:01):
It's going to we can give Nick a hard time together.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Oh, it's one of my passions in life.
Speaker 9 (28:09):
It's become a passion of mine as well.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
It's fun.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Fun.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
You know, the guy who says he's undefeated in sports arguments,
It's fun to kind of back him into a corner
and laugh at him. But help me out with these stories.
You know, Terry McLaurin, he was holding out but then
he's back. Trey Hendrickson holding out and then he's back.
You obviously would deal with this, but Hendrickson's the most
high profile one. Are you surprised at all on how
(28:35):
this has gone down between Hendrickson and the Bengals.
Speaker 9 (28:39):
I'm not completely surprised at all. And you were talking
about before the break the fifty thousand dollars fine, and
the difference for the fifty thousand dollars fine now versus
what it was before is that fine is not forgivable.
So when these guys are getting hit with that fifty
thousand dollars number, even when the deal is done, someone's
(28:59):
got to pay that number. So either the team's got
to compensate the player for the fifty thousand dollars per day.
So look, if you go over the course of a month,
it could be over a million dollars million and a
half dollars or the player's got to deal with that,
where previously, when you redid the contract, you could forgive
the fine, So those numbers are more meaningful and with Hendrickson.
Hendrickson's situation, he signed the initial four year deal, and
(29:23):
then two years into that deal he wanted some more money,
so they gave him eight million dollars up front, they
gave another eight million dollars guaranteed, and they added a
year to his deal, which is this year right now,
which he's unhappy about. So I understand from an organization's perspective,
the organization's perspective that they don't want to have to
keep redoing deals. And I understand from Hendrickson's perspective too,
(29:45):
He's he has been outstanding, and he's been outstanding on
a team that is in desperate need of defensive players
that are outstanding. So he's got a lot of leverage
as well. So they've got to find some sort of
happy medium to give the team a chance to be successful.
And what's been in Cincinnati's biggest problem is is slow starts. Right,
(30:06):
slow starts have killed them. So if they don't get
Hendrickson back to the start of the season and he
doesn't play as well as he could, that could be that,
you know, part of another Cincinnati slow start and another
problematic finish of the season for him.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
So in Dallas. There's also a contract story, but frankly,
I find the contract stories a little tedious because they
ultimately they ultimately get done and we're parsing millions of
dollars for millionaires already. But the big story in Dallas
to me anyway, is Brian Schottenheimer and where they go
from there. Michael will get done shot. He was on
(30:42):
your staff, so you know him. I was surprised that
they hired someone who's already with Mike McCarthy. What will
the differences be between Schottenheimer and McCarthy.
Speaker 9 (30:54):
You know, I I think Brian is an underrated candidate.
And when I hire Brian, one of the things that
I really liked about him is not only was he
smart and had good relationships with players, but he was
also flexible. So he had a system that he ran
that was really had given us problems in New England
that I wanted to bring with me to the Jets.
(31:15):
He was willing to run that system, but he was
willing to incorporate other things into that system in order
to make it our system, in order to take advantage
of the players that we had. And I loved that
flexibility that he showed. And now Look, it's been quite
a few years since then, so he's learned a lot,
he's got a ton of experience, and he's a first
(31:35):
time head coach, just like all these first time head
coaches are. But I think he's got just as much
potential to be successful there as any other any of
the other first time head coaches.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
I want to follow up on that. I feel like
I always hear coaches say I'm going to build the
system around my players, around the personnel that we have.
But then there are so many examples. And I'm a
Bears fan. I saw it in Chicago. You know, Matt
nag You trying to fit Justin Fields into his system
was probably the most prominent example of my fandom where
it was very clear that they weren't really building a
(32:07):
system around the player. They were trying to fit the
player into their system. Why is that so difficult for
so many coaches to actually do build a system around
the talent that they have.
Speaker 9 (32:19):
Well, when you're raised in a system, and when you've
had success in a system and you've seen it work
at a really high level, which most of these guys
who have gotten head coaching jobs that that's been the case,
and then you go to a new program and that's
your expertise. You tend to want to bring all those
good things and show the group, hey, this has real value,
(32:41):
which is which is great, which is which which over
time can work really well. But you also have to
understand that and this is happening right now a lot
Denny in training campuses, you go into a season with
who you want to be, and then the good coaching
staffs figure out who they need to be. That's the
different between between good staffs and great sass is knowing
(33:03):
who you want to be and then realizing who you
need to be in order to be successful that year.
And you have to you have to have enough humbleness
and openness to say this isn't going to work right now.
It's it's not that it's bad, it's just not good
for us right now. And what's best for the player
is that we do X, Y and D that he's
(33:26):
really good at. And when I brought Brett Favre into
New York, I wasn't going to try to run our
system that didn't fit Brett Farv. I was going to
do the things that Brett Farv did really well to
make sure he was the best version of himself. And
you saw that in Tampa Bay with Tom Brady. Initially
they were doing you know, they weren't doing what Tom
did really well. When they pivoted towards what Tom did
(33:48):
really well and ended up bringing to the Super Bowl.
And it's the same thing with young players too. You
you just gotta you got to be able to take
a step back and say, hey, this is good. It's
just not good for us right now. The thing is
what's good for this player who's leading us.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
I think one of the most fascinating stories in the
NFL this year is Travis Hunter because of what Jacksonville
is trying to do with him, and they are saying,
we're not only going to try it, we're gonna do it.
We're going to play this guy on both sides of
the ball. At camp so far, he's split in terms
of first team reps on offense and defense. It's been
fifty to fifty. And coming up they're going to do
the first practice where he does both in the same day.
(34:25):
How would you manage an athlete like that as a coach.
Speaker 9 (34:29):
Yeah, So in New England we had Troy Brown, the
different athlete he had played. I think he was in
his eleventh year as a wide receiver and never played
on defense and pro football. But we worked him a
camp and he ended up playing on defense as well
as offense, and that year he played more defensive snaps
than offensive snaps. But my approach with Travis Hunter, and
(34:49):
I think what would be most efficient is start him
on defense. Let him play full time on defense, because
you can't guarantee what the other team offense is going
to do. So let's say you want to have him
in dime defense and they come out and they're playing
a bunch of things where you're gonna have to play
more dime than you wanted to, and he's got to
play more refs.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
You don't have control.
Speaker 9 (35:11):
But if you started on defense, he's playing full time
there and then you play him situationally offensively. That to
me is the best approach to it because you control
when he goes in. So playman on third down, play
him in the red zone, and play him in two
minute on offense, and play him full time on defense
and control what you can control with the athlete and
(35:33):
give him the best chance to maximize his talents and
impact on both sides.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
How many guys do you think are going to be
raising their hands and being like I can do it too. Yeah.
Speaker 9 (35:44):
Yeah, Look, there's a lot of guys who believe they
can do it. And even with Travis, the difference is
every athlete he faces is good, and even the guys
that are considered not great in the NFL are probably
on the highest end of the guys he faced while
he was at Colorado. So to go down in and
down out against the best athletes that he's faced, it's
(36:06):
hard to do. And we're not talking about twelve games.
We're talking about seventeen games. And that doesn't even account
for the preseason, That doesn't account for how much longer
the season is, that doesn't account for how much bigger
the playbook is on offense, how much bigger the playbook
is on defense. And as much as he wants to
do this, organizationally, they're going to have to protect him
from himself because the wear and tear is a big thing,
(36:29):
and they want him all season long, and they want
him to have a very long, productive career. So I
hope they don't burn them out here too early and
they let this build at a rate that's sustainable.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
So we're going to be working together a lot more
on first things first, and so you've been exposed to
Nick Wright's lists, and so now I want to show
you a perfect list for a change. I just felt
like i'd help you out a little bit.
Speaker 9 (36:52):
Finally, I'm going to get a perfect list exactly.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
I see no flaws in my top ten quarterback list.
Coach Eagles fans seem to have a lot of problems
with it, but I'm curious. Mahomes one, Herbert five, Baker nine,
Jalen Hurts ten. It looks perfect to me. What say you?
Speaker 9 (37:13):
Okay, So looking at this as I absolutely agree with
Mahomes at one. I think your two, three, four are
completely interchangeable. I think if you put those three players
up and said to all thirty two teams you can
draft any one of these three players, it would probably
be split, you know, in thirds in terms of who
guys would want based off of the system they had
(37:33):
or which way they were leaning towards. So so those
guys are to me interchangeable.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Yeah, there's a clear love for, there's a there's a
clear ten for. The debate is five through ten.
Speaker 9 (37:43):
Yeah, so even even five through ten, I would I
went Jaydeen Daniels at five, and I know, you know,
we're going into the sophomore year and there could be
the sophomore slump and people are going to catch up.
I do think that the difference is not only what
he did as as a runner, but his accuracy. To me,
(38:05):
I would I would push him to that five spot,
with Stafford being my slash there Stafford and Jayden Daniels.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
I love Stafford.
Speaker 9 (38:15):
The fact that he won the Super Bowl, I played
against coach against it for a long time caused problems.
But his age to me, bumps him to six. And
then after that, I get to Justin Herbert where he is.
I struggle with his performance in the playoffs. That's why
I think you got to bump Jalen Hurts. You got
to give him credit for for what he's done in
(38:36):
the biggest moments. So I'd probably bump him up and
and he and Justin are kind of in that next area.
And then with with Jared and Baker, I mean, it
just depends on what you're like. I mean, I'm a
little hot.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
I'll take it.
Speaker 9 (38:54):
I'll take it it is. I don't love six and seven.
I'm more five and six. Justin, Justin Jared Baker. They're
kind of a group. And then Jay, I get why
you have Jalen at ten, but you do have to
I think you got a great amount of curve based
off of performance in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
He's been unbelievable in the playoffs. The Steelers are such
a fascinating team for a number of reasons. I actually
like the moves they made in a vacuum for this year.
There's huge questions about the long term ramifications, but I
thought that they made sense. My question is, let's say
I'm wrong, and let's say this goes poorly, and it
is a seven win season, first losing season under Mike Tomlin,
(39:38):
and we're now at nine going on ten years without
a playoff win, and there's a handful of offensive coordinators
and a bunch of different quarterbacks. Is there anything that
could actually turn up a hot seat on a guy
like Mike Tomlin Given that Pittsburgh has had three coaches
in the history of their organization.
Speaker 9 (39:57):
I don't think there should be huge Mike Tomlin fan
And and what people forget is how hard it is to
deal with transitioning after a great quarterback. So Bill Belichick
after a great quarterback, not very good, right, Sean Payton
without Drew Brees pretty different equation than than what we
(40:18):
were used to seeing. And and it's the same thing,
you know, Ben Brothlisberger, and they haven't had the losing season,
which to me is remarkable, but they haven't found their
answer at quarterback. And finding that answer a quarterback, everybody's
chasing it. And that's why when when these great quarterbacks
become available, all the teams that are quarterbacks starved, they
(40:40):
go and see if they can they can hit on them. So,
whether it's Aaron Rodgers at the Jets and now Aaron
Rodgers in Pittsburgh, or you know, take your pick. It
was us with with Brett Favre trying to capture some
of that magic Russell Wilson when he got traded. It's
you're you're hoping that this is the answer. You're hoping
(41:02):
that Aaron Rodgers is over, you know, wanting to be GM,
wanting to be head coach and now just wants to
be a great player and a great teammate and a
great contributor. Maybe it's not the level we've been used
to to seeing him at his high point, but hopefully
it's a better level than we've seen him since since
he's left Green Bay Football.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
Season's here, coach. This feels good. It feels good to
have hype. It feels good to have like we got
a game on Thursday. Are you a play for guys
in the preseason guy, or are you, you know, risk
averse like me, I'm scared of injury.
Speaker 9 (41:37):
Yeah, it's it's this is always the challenging part. So
it's it's this time of the year figuring out whether
you want to play your stars or not. And then
then it's at the end of the season when you've
made the playoffs and you're trying to figure out whether
you want to play your stars or not. And it's
always the the what is it Russ versus rest philosophy,
And I I think you want to get some reps
(42:00):
for your guys and have them feel what it's like
to work together, even if it's a limited exposure, so
that the first time they're they're seeing action isn't in
game one. But you know, I understand why a lot
of head coaches say, yeah, I'd rather him be rusty
and available than hurt and not available.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
Eric Mangini, Fox Sports NFL analyst, former Coach of the Year,
looking forward to working with you on FtF and we'll
be watching later on today. Thank you coach.
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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