August 27, 2025 • 31 mins
Jason McIntyre fills in for Colin discussing Travis Kelce’s engagement to Taylor Swift and if this means the Chiefs dynasty is nearing its end as Kelce might be leaning towards retirement. He argues last season’s surprise Cinderella team, the Washington Commanders, are headed for regression this season for one major reason. Plus, he talks to Steve Wyche from the NFL Network about 49ers QB Brock Purdy and why he’s already established himself as an elite player in the NFL
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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
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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 back.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
It's Wednesday in Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Wherever you are,
however you may be listening. I think I got that right.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I've never tried that. It just came to me.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
It's me Jason McIntyre filling in for Colin Cowherd. He
is breathlessly texting me updates about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelcey,
and I'm relaying them to Rachel Nichols, who.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I'm joined by again today. Rachel, No, Colin's not actually texting, said,
I'm not sure this is quick.
Speaker 5 (00:59):
This is his.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Last hurrah and now maybe he's on the golf course today.
I don't but uh, Rachel and I listen. We've been
hit for breaking news every day, so keep it locked.
Who knows what's coming down? Now, we did get a
little tease about some not great news, which we'll get
you shortly. Uh, Kansas City Chiefs fans tuned in. But
I'm gonna start the show, obviously with the big news
(01:21):
in sports, Travis Kelce Taylor Swift engaged. Now, I know
sports fans are already sick of it, their wives, their girlfriends,
their side pieces and whatever talking about.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Wait a minute, what kind of wedding dress is Taylor Swift?
Speaker 6 (01:38):
There were but do.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
They get a DJ or do they do a band?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Do they do an international wedding?
Speaker 4 (01:44):
And there's all this updates on all the celebrity websites
and also sports websites talking about this union, and folks,
I'm gonna take it in a different direction because we
do sports here on the show, and I'm gonna say,
how does this impact the act such a football product
of the Kansas City Chiefs. And it keeps coming back
to one thing that's fairly obvious that this has to
(02:07):
be the last dance for the triumvirate of Andy Reid,
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Right, I mean, you guys,
remember a few years ago Baker Mayfield led the NFL
in commercials and on the field the product.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Was not great. Well, what are we doing with Travis Kelce?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
I mean, he's talked about retirement, He's among the league
leaders in commercials, He's a full blown celebrity. Now, okay,
he's engaged to the most famous woman on the planet
and now they're going to be planning a wedding. By
the way, side note, Travis Kelce's dad gave a random
interview to a Cleveland TV station. I don't know, there's
(02:43):
some kind of connection there, and he said, oh yeah,
basically they got engaged two weeks ago, which then makes
you wonder about that whole podcast appearance.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Listen, there's just so much happening here, but guess what's
not happening?
Speaker 6 (02:56):
Football?
Speaker 4 (02:57):
And I mentioned the last dance because Jordan Pippot and
Phil Jackson they knew that that was it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
It's over.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
On some level, guys, Patrick Mahomes has to know this
is it. I mean, Travis Kelce turns thirty six in October.
He's going into the final year of his contract.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
He's openly talked about retirement.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
I mean, he's laying the groundwork for a post football career.
I mean he's podcasting, he's in Happy Go More too.
By the way, just a quick review, I didn't think
the movie was great. It was okay, but I did
think Travis Kelcey was kind of good. I thought Bad
Bunny was good. I didn't even know it was Bad Bunny.
But like Travis kelce wasn't terrible. And you know, he's
(03:41):
doing a lot of commercials. I have a feeling he's
gonna have a pretty lucrative post football career. But that's
post football. We still have a season to go. And again,
I don't think they're a super Bowl team. I had
them third in my Super Bowl tier yesterday. Shocker Chiefs
fans did not like that. But when you kind of
(04:01):
drill down and start thinking, like, man, maybe this is coming.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
To an end every couple of years.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Andy Reid, who by the way, is sixty seven years old,
he's talking about retirement. So you know, if Kelsey and
Reid walked away after this, it would not shock me.
I think the dynasty is over. They had their shot
in the Super Bowl. They got smashed.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Folks.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
The Rashi Rice news that's emerging right now, you know,
Adam Schefter reporting looks like it's gonna be the first
six games of the season. That's putting even more pressure
on Travis Kelce, who oh, by the way, is coming
off a career low in receiving yards touchdowns. Like things
are not looking great, especially if for she Rice is
cooked for the first six games. So I'm to say,
(04:41):
I know, it's just saying, you know, don't cry because
it's over, Smile because it happened.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
That's how I'm feeling about this Chief's run.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
As you see Mahomes running around celebrating they had a
great run, it's over. And Travis Kelce, you know he
could have a great Swan song. I'm sure he's gonna
play better here. Listen, don't.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Run a mile and you're older, you know you want
to come out of the gate hot.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Now I'm competing of whoa, You're running out of gas quickly.
Kelsey's gonna have to step up here early in the season.
If for she Rice is indeed suspended for six.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Games, I don't think this.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Is gonna go as great as everybody's predicting. I know
they have my Homes and they have Reid and they
have Kelsey, but for how much longer this is probably it.
Now I'm gonna shift my focus to a team I
actually love, and that's the San Francisco forty nine Ers,
another team that I had yesterday that was mildly controversial
(05:32):
in my Super Bowl tiers.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I had them in the first tier.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
That was met with a lot of scorn and derision
on the internet, but that's what people do online. And
the focus here is going to be a certain seventh
round quarterback by the name of Rock Perdy.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
So our friend Albert.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Brier was at forty nine Ers camp recently and he
spoke to Shanahan, Salah, Lynch and Purdy and brock Perdy
had a really interesting quote that jumped out and all
the aggregators weren wild.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Here's the quote from brock Perdy.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
I felt this pressure last season on myself to be
a superman type guy, go out and make plays off schedule.
And I did look, and yes, his rushing numbers were
up last season. A lot of that was running for
his life, because when your star running backs out and
your receiving rooms depleted, you know you got to try
(06:24):
to make plays. Now, I do need some context here
because brock perty last year was playing for a contract
he was making like eight hundred thousand dollars on that
seventh round, dead last pick in the draft rookie deal,
and he was looking to get elevated to be a
forty or fifty million dollar a year guy. Now, more
context needed. So this Niners team last year, we should
(06:47):
have seen the drop off coming. Okay, they had a
five year run where they went to two Super Bowls
and two conference championships. Perdy got hurt against the Eagles
the other one they lost, and the one year Jimmy
Garoppolo got injured and they missed the playoffs. But I
totaled it twelve playoff games in a five year span.
(07:08):
So it's no surprise that half the defense was hurt
last year and you see guys dropping like flies. Twelve
playoff games is almost another entire season. Remember the Golden
State Warriors kept going to the finals and then really
broke down rapidly.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
That was the Niners last year. But I've got a couple.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Things about Brock Purdy that I'm gonna hit you with
now that are going to be a surprise. So the
narrative was that you know, he wasn't good last year
and he was trying to be superman. He was playing
for a contract, and hey, as Colin likes to say,
the weather was bad and.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Brock Purty crumbled.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Well, you know, I do not like the blind taste
tests when it comes to quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
I feel like it's cheap and people kind of cherry pickstats.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
But I this morning just looking at stats for brock
Purty last year to go with these quotes, and then
I looked at the leaderboard.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
I'm like, brock Purdy.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Was not that bad last year. So, folks, here is
the first of two. I'm gonna compare brock Purdy to
another quarterback in the NFL last year. So you see
his passing yards perty plus about one hundred touchdown interceptions, party,
more touchdowns, more interceptions.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Yards per attempt.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
He was not a checkdown artist eight point five, much
better than this other quarterback and better in passer rating.
Let's see who the other quarterback is. Oh, oh, Matthew Stafford,
the much beloved Matthew Stafford. I like Stafford. I'm a
Stafford guy. But Stafford wasn't great last year. So Stafford
wasn't great. How was brock Purty awful? Okay, that's number one.
(08:45):
Now the staff came up with a second one. I
don't know who this guy is. Was I knew the
other one was Stafford. So here are the numbers. Stafford again,
more passing yards, more touchdowns, even interceptions, way better in
yards per attempt, and better in passer rating. Let's see
who the quarterback was compared to brock Purty last year.
Speaker 6 (09:03):
CJ. Stroud.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Oh wait a minute, brock Purty in his down year
was better than Stroud statistically and better than Stafford.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
What so brock Purty was it bad? Okay?
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Their tat is telling me right now we have one
more blind resume. Again, this wasn't run by me, so
I have no idea who this guy is. Touchdowns even,
yards per attempt edge to Purty, completion percentage dead even.
All right, let's see who this quarterback is, Rock Purty
versus Oh my, no, is that Justin Herbert?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
So again we can.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Bag on brock Purty all we want the numbers. Facts
say he was better than Justin Herbert, Matt Stafford, and
c J.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Stroud last year. That's a bit of a boom.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
My kid likes to do truth bomb, you know, with
the head exploding emoji. That's what I'm seeing there for
brock Purty. So we have Greg Cosell. Last week I
was on vacation, Cowhard brought in Greg Coselt to take
shots at pretty I don't know if he took shots.
Speaker 7 (10:05):
Here we go in terms of being what we call
a post snap operator. In other words, when he takes
the snap, he has such an intuitive feel for what
he sees, and therefore he's a really really good timing
and anticipation thrower. It's just innate to him. He sees
it really quickly. So Purdy is a high level post
(10:27):
snap operator. He's a really really good player. Purdy is
a really good quarterback. He's just not a dynamic athlete
who is necessarily going to make those kind of special
plays on his own. But as a pocket quarterback, he's
pretty high level.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Cosell dropping a little truth bomb there on my guy,
brock Purty. So I do want to say, I try
to help you guys out, okay, try to help you
be a little smarter on the gambling front, the fantasy
the takes and sometimes you don't want it or you
want to.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Just argue with me, folks. Just a few facts here.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
The forty nine ers this season are favored in fifteen
of seventeen games. Fifteen Er sent They're gonna be awesome,
and the only two times are dogs. They're short road
dogs against I think it's the Rams and Bucks back
to back.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Okay, so they're gonna be good.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
I don't care that you think, oh, the defense is washed,
all these new guys, they're gonna be really good.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Yeah, there it is.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
They're at the Rams and Bucks back to back in
weeks five and six. They are slight dogs. That schedule
is Cupcake City. Go find me the elite quarterbacks outside
of Stafford on that list and take your time, because
there aren't any folks.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
The Niners are going to be really freaking good last year. Now,
I'm gonna be honest.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
If I asked you the audience, give me the best
offense and defensive coaching combos in the league heading into
this season, and I'll give you one right out of the
Andy Reid and Spagnolo.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
They can be number one. Okay, who's second best in
the league?
Speaker 4 (12:06):
If you want to say Sean Payton and Vance Joseph,
I'm not gonna fight you, Okay, I'll give you that,
but I'll tell you right now, Kyle Shanahan and Robert
Sala has to be top three, top four at worst. Okay,
I know you're gonna bag on Salah. He was a
disaster with the Jets. Actually, guys, Robert Sala in two
and a half seasons with the Jets, the defense first
(12:29):
in points per drive, first in EPA per play, third in.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Defensive success rate.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
It wasn't Sala's fault as a defensive coordinator running the
Jets d It wasn't on him. Aaron Rodgers stunk and
he got hurt, and the Jets are a full blown
disaster top down every year.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
But it wasn't Sala's fault. I'm just telling you.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
The Niners are gonna be really good. You can get
on board early and do the victory lap with me
come November when they're looking at a number one seed,
or you can just continue to have your.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Opinion rock parties. A seventh round pick, he's garbage.
Speaker 6 (13:03):
You know who?
Speaker 4 (13:03):
You sound like the guy who was bagging on Tom
Brady early in his career. Oh, he's a game manager.
J Mack, he's not that good. Drew Bledsoe was the man,
and you kept saying that about Brady until you just
couldn't say it anymore, and he became the greatest quarterback
in NFL history. Like stop being wedded to your take
(13:27):
open your eyes rock party. Last year, better than Stafford,
numbers wise, better than Herbert, better than CJ. Stroud, forty
nine ers, favored in fifteen of seventeen games. I'm telling
you right now, get on board. You don't want to
be left behind now, Rachel. I know that's a big
plea to the audience. Hey, you can rock with me
or you can.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Just like argue with me. But I feel irrationally good.
You're laughing.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
I'm laughing.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I think you're right well, first of all.
Speaker 8 (13:53):
And I'm laughing because for people out there who don't
buy what you're saying, you said, oh, it's a cupcave schedule,
it's the easiest schedule.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
It's thirty two. It's number thirty two.
Speaker 6 (14:04):
It is the.
Speaker 8 (14:04):
Easiest schedule in the NFL this season. My concern, we
talked about it earlier in the week, is just the injuries.
I mean that wide receiver room has been decimated. And
Christian McCaffrey is still healthy.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
That's good. He's made it through preseason healthy.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Yay.
Speaker 8 (14:17):
But you know, we've talked about it that he is
I don't want to say fragile, because no one who
plays that position is fragile, frankly, but someone who has
had an injury history, right, So you just kind of
worry if some of those tools at brock Perty's disposal
are going to be available, right, that's my.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Nice Sure we need brand and ay you back, that'll
be nice if you could get help.
Speaker 8 (14:35):
It's not going to be immediate, right. So he's still
recovering from the knee injuries. So you know, it's one
of those things where health and luck as always have
to help these guys out.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
A little bit.
Speaker 8 (14:46):
But if it's even normal health at luck, which they
have not experienced so far in the preseason, but hopefully
once the season gets going, if they can just return
to a normal amount of injuries, then I'm with you
all the way. I think this will surprise some people.
We've talked about the NFC West. You know, I am
not as bullish on the Rams being you know, I
just Stafford. I don't know if he's gonna make it
(15:07):
through the whole season. So I think that we talked
at about the forty nine ers, all right.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I love agreement to start the show.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
All right, coming up next, stat emerge yesterday on Rachel's Commanders.
That is going to surprise. I was stunned by this.
Is it going to hold them back from the super Bowl?
That's next here on the Herd.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
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Speaker 5 (15:34):
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Speaker 9 (15:39):
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Speaker 9 (15:48):
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Speaker 4 (16:32):
Back here on the Herd, got Steve Weisch of NFL
Network coming up in about twenty minutes. He's really locked
in now. I know he knows the Falcons. Well, they
had a big injury this week. Not great for my
Falcons futures. But let's go to a team that someone
actually cares about, and that's the Washington Commanders. What a
story they were last year, right, You had the Daniel
(16:54):
Snyder having to give up on a lose his ownership.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
You get the new group.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Coming in front office, new quarterback, new coach, knew everything,
and it clicked on a level that I mean, I
can't recall seeing that rapid of a turnaround.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Shout out to Dan Quinn, great job.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
But a stat came out yesterday about Washington kind of
blew me away. The Washington Commanders now have the oldest
roster in the NFL. And oh, by the way, it
is the oldest roster in the NFL in the last
twenty years.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
People actually track this stuff. I get it.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
When you are rebooting with a new owner, new front office,
new coach, new rookie quarterback, you need some veterans. So
last year they brought in some veterans. You know, Zach
Ertz linebacker Bobby Wagner, who was ridiculous last year. He
grated out as the third best middle linebacker in the league. Okay,
he's like thirty four to thirty five, and that's I
(17:49):
don't mean to make be like an agist, but let's
be real. Once you hit thirty in the NFL, outside
of quarterback, you're getting old. And they brought an Austin
Eckler running back who's on the older side. This year
they bring in von Miller Laramie Tunsel like they're an
older team. Deebo Samuel's kind of older. So they've got
all these veterans. But then you start to look at
(18:11):
the history of the oldest teams in the league and
it's not pretty at all.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
And you start to wonder.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Okay, so last year they got a little lucky eight
and four in one score games. It wasn't Kansas City
Chiefs eleven or zero, but eight and four is really
really good. And oh, by the way, they beat the
Bears on a flukail Mary. They survived the Saints on
a two point conversion deal. Remember Jayden Daniels was incredible
in that game. Jaan Daniel was pretty incredible all season. Okay,
(18:42):
this stat is arguably like a top five stat from
last season in the entire NFL. So fourth down, If
you can go fifty sixty percent on fourth down, that's amazing, Right,
you get every other fourth down you go for you
get that.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
That would be incredible.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
The Washington command, we're twenty of twenty three on fourth
down last season, eighty seven percent. That is unsustainable. I
don't know if that'll ever be matched. When you look
at the amount of attempts they at twenty to twenty three,
I would kill for that as my free throw percentage
of my men's basketball league. Washington did that on fourth
(19:19):
down the highest leverage down. Defensive cordators are emptying the
kitchen sink on the blitz. A lot of pressure twenty
of twenty three is ridiculous. Can Jaden Daniels do that again?
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Probably not?
Speaker 4 (19:32):
And then you start to wonder, like, is this old
roster like they got through last season.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
What happens if.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
There's an injury to Bobby Wagner, what happens if the
von Miller can't really be a factor, zach Ertz get
gets banged up. These guys are getting older. And you
start to look up it on the schedule and you're like, oh,
this is a very tough schedule. This is arguable top
five schedule in the league.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
You get the layup against the Giants early, it.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
Is a divisional matchup, could be tricky, right with the
Giants front seven, Maybe they surprise the hell out of you.
But I mean Packers, I think the Falcons are gonna
be good. You get the Chargers, I mean Minnesota Vikings
are gonna be good. We know the Broncos are hella good.
Detroit Lions, like that is a difficult schedule, and you
(20:20):
start to wonder, all right, I know they were one
in four against playoff teams last year, but who cares
jay they And by the way, that one win was
Week eighteen against Kenny or whatever.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I don't know if it was Week eight.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Team was late in the season when Jalen Hurts got
hurt and Kenny Pickett had to like fill in, like, guys,
what are.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
We doing here now?
Speaker 4 (20:38):
They did beat Detroit and Tampa in the playoffs, awesome,
but a lot of things are lining up to make
it look like Washington could have could have a very
difficult season ahead.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Neon Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
Back here on the Herd again, Steve Weisch, NFL reporter,
NFL Network.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
He's been there since two thousand and eight.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Steve, thanks for joining us on this day with more
breaking news involving the Chiefs. This is actual on field
product as opposed to the Kelsey Swift engagement. But obviously
the reci Rice news just broke. I'm curious a your
reaction and b you know what do you think the
impact will be on Kansas City's offense?
Speaker 6 (21:27):
Yeah, my colleague Tom Pelsero broke that.
Speaker 10 (21:30):
And what's interesting, remember he had a date set for
late September right so that woul allowed him to play
find out his fate. All of this stuff by now
he's getting this out of the way. So he suspended
for six weeks. According to Tom, he'll be able to
come back in week seven and then they can get rolling.
So that allows the Chiefs on the field to kind
(21:51):
of set their rotation and everything from now. It allows
Rice not to go back and forth like we've seen
some players go back and forth in the past. Are
they going to play again? Remember with Zeke Elliott? Are
they not going to play? So that just clears a
hurdle of the unknown. So we'll see how is he Rice,
who's a valuable part of what they do, how he
(22:11):
figures in when he comes back mid season put again
for the Chiefs football wise, it just allows him, let's
establish this, this is out of the way.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
Now all sides can function kind of knowing what is there.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Yeah, it's weird Rice.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
He hasn't played enough for us to know if he's great,
But in that one season he kind of popped. He
looked like he had top ten receiver potential, right with
the speed and the strength.
Speaker 10 (22:37):
Yeah, I mean, and he helps out what they like
to do in that offense, right, Remember he does the
up the seam stuff. He kind of helps Kelsey clear
things out in that middle of the field. Plus you
could tell Mahomes really likes him.
Speaker 6 (22:48):
I mean, they've got a chemistry there.
Speaker 10 (22:50):
I think they're both Dallas area guys, Texas guys, and
they train a lot in the offseason together, so that
chemistry helps. And so not having him, they knew it
was possibility. They didn't have them most of last year.
They worked around it. So now they'll work around it again,
find a way, and when he comes back, it could
be kind of a cherry on top type of thing.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Now, last year the receiver room was, you know, not great,
certainly bottom half of the league. Now you're looking at
Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy Juju, says Schuster. I don't does
this put more pressure on Travis Kelcey, who oh, by
the way, is thirty five and all the almost thirty six?
Speaker 6 (23:26):
No, I mean, look, the Chiefs do what they do.
Speaker 10 (23:29):
Last year, the issue wasn't so much the receiving core,
but it was the offensive line. Yeah, I mean, they
just didn't play well. They had issues that left tackle.
Then they moved Tuney out from guard to tackle. Some
uncertainty at that guard spot for a while. I think
if that part is solidified and We know they did
some things to try to change that offensive line, including
drafting someone in the first round. If that part solidified,
the Chiefs are going to do what they do. I mean,
(23:50):
as long as you got number fifteen, if they've got
a dink and dunk, they'll do that. They're going to
stretch the field here and there, they'll do that. So
I don't think it's so much on Kelsey and that
receiving crews on the guys up frontal at that offense
function the way Andy Reid wants it to function.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
So let's go to Kelsey real quick. Obviously, you know
he's a celebrity now, he was in a movie, he's podcasting,
he's engaged to Taylor Swift. Also entering the final year
of his contract. He's talked about retirement in the past.
He's talked about all the surgeries he's had. We would
it safe to assume this is his last ride? And
I'm just curious, do you think you know Andy Reid
is sixty seven. There's been speculation previously whether or not
(24:27):
he hangs them up. I mean, is there a world
where this is really the final run for Red Mahomes
and Kelsey together?
Speaker 6 (24:35):
It could be. I don't envision it.
Speaker 10 (24:37):
I mean, knowing those those guys as much as I do.
I mean, maybe Travis steps away. I'll tell you this,
he's got his body really together. I saw him some
stuff this offseason. He looks different, he looks fresh. Maybe
now that he's engaged, you know, he's going to be
super fresh.
Speaker 6 (24:53):
I don't know. Well with Andy Reid, I he seems
someone to me like he just I don't know what
he would.
Speaker 10 (24:58):
Do without coaching, and I just think that's kind of
something he hangs on to because he knows he impacts
lives in a lot of ways besides just on the
field and with his staff, and of course Patrick Mahomes
is going to be there.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
So I don't envision it.
Speaker 10 (25:12):
That's not to say it couldn't happen, But right now
I don't see Andy retaying.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
You know what, this is one last rodeo. We're going out.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Let me pivot to Brock Purdy if you don't mind,
I am a brock pretty guy. I think he's undervalued significantly.
He had a quote to Albert Breer saying he tried
to do too much and be superman last year. I mean, Steve,
their whole team was banged up, he's playing for a contract.
I think he can be superman. I mean, we have
a couple of years worth of data on this guy.
(25:42):
He's really good, is he not.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
I'm with you.
Speaker 10 (25:45):
I've been a brock pretty guy ever since he came
in midstream as a third stringer against the Dolphins and
put up numbers like he'd been playing all of a sudden.
The third stringers don't get reps, so the fact he
played that way showed me he's got something to him.
I could see him trying to over extend himself last
year because there's a certain standard with the forty nine
ers and with you know, Trent Williams down, Deebo, Samuel down,
(26:08):
Brandon you know, not having a good year, Brandon Ayuk down.
Speaker 6 (26:11):
A lot of defenders down. This just wasn't the same team.
Speaker 10 (26:14):
So a lot of times guys are going to try
to do more than what they're not necessarily capable of doing,
but do more than what they should do to live
up to the standard that's been set. I think this
is a reset with some of the changes on that
roster on both sides of the ball, with a new
receiving crew and with.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
CMC back, the opportunity is there for brock Perty to
do some big things. I think this is kind of
a refresher for the forty nine ers.
Speaker 10 (26:38):
I don't know if they'll be dominant early, but we'll
see if they gain some traction and get going as
the season goes along.
Speaker 6 (26:43):
But I think Perdy is the least of their worries.
I think he's.
Speaker 10 (26:46):
Kind of north Pole that everybody can kind of look
to to guide them, to guide them through.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
I like that.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
I don't want to be body language expert guy when
it comes to Ben Johnson. But Steve, we keep seeing
video of him at the podium looking unhappy. Now, maybe
he's a serious guy, first head coaching job.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
He wants to look like a you know, a.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Tough guy who was really locked in. But it doesn't seem,
and it's early like things are going great with him
In Caleb Williams.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Rachel had a good point earlier.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
That like, he's not praising Caleb a ton and a
lot of it is criticism, and I don't know, Caleb.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Is a little fragile.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
We had this stuff from Seth Wickersham about how I
didn't want to go to Chicago in the first place.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
What do you make of all this?
Speaker 10 (27:29):
Well, I didn't see Bill Belichick ever very happy. I
know Andy Reid's a nice guy, but he's not the
most jovial. So, you know, in terms of how guys
appear at the press conference, I don't really know, you know,
having been in these situations. It's like the meeting rooms
and stuff. If a coach is like glazing you up
or are beating you down in front of the team
(27:50):
in the meeting rooms and really humiliating you in front
of your peers, that's where things really tend to ruffle feathers.
Speaker 6 (27:56):
Now. Some guys, you know, get bent out of shape
by what said in the media.
Speaker 10 (28:00):
But and I don't know Ben Johnson. I've been around him,
but he's just an intense guy. There are intense coach
you've been around Sean McVay. That dude never relaxes. Now
he is kind of captain positive, yes, but you know,
there's just different coaches with different styles. And I'm Ben
Johnson's got my benefit of the doubt until he doesn't.
(28:21):
So we'll we'll see how this works out. I do think,
you know, And I heard the quote that he said
it's going to take a minute for this entire offense
to get going.
Speaker 6 (28:27):
And they got a new offensive line, a lot of
new pieces. It's going to take a minute. But once
they get it going.
Speaker 10 (28:32):
With Ben Johnson, what he did in Detroit, defensive coordinators
fear some of his scheming.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
We'll see if it translates now that he's in this
new role.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
I love to ask you guys in the media. You
go to camps, you talk to people. I mean, we're
just out here blathering. Is there a team that you
see that's maybe undervalued with respect to what everybody else
is saying. I want that team to be the Atlanta Falcons,
a team you know, well, they got an injury on
the line this week, it's really bad. Is there a
team that you've seen that you think, hey, man, nobody's
(29:02):
really talking about X.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
I think they could pop.
Speaker 6 (29:05):
It's the team that's in Atlanta's conference, and that's Tampa Bay.
Speaker 10 (29:08):
It's a that's won the division. I don't think we
talk about them enough. Roster wise. They are solid pretty
much through and through. But when we talk about teams
with a culture, that's a team that's got a culture
we don't talk about.
Speaker 6 (29:21):
There is a standard there now in Tampa Bay.
Speaker 10 (29:23):
When new players come there, they understand defensively, you better
be physical no matter what you do offensively, you better
be precision on time. And we talk about how you know,
first Dave Canalis and Lea and Comb got the best
out of Baker Mayfield. Maybe Baker is the king maker, right.
I think Tampa Bay is a team that we better
(29:44):
start paying a lot more attention to, just because they've
got something institutionally now that's been in place for four
or five years that we've neglected.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
I didn't think about that.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Maybe Baker's the guide, not all these coaches that they
keep cycling through. The Baker's story is fascinating, how he
was kind of kicked to the curb in Cleveland. It
was over and then it was rams and there was
one other team. And he's now he's like a full.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Blown pro bowler, right, he's legit.
Speaker 10 (30:13):
And when you got Mike Evans and you draft a
BUCA who all reviews on him coming out of camp
had been great, you know, with God went on the
shelf to start the season, he's got an opportunity to
keep doing some things. And look, he's he's kind of
started this thing. You see Geno Smith kind of following there,
can Sam Darnold following there in Seattle, where maybe it's
(30:35):
more you get the talented player in the right situation
and then that talent can start to shine as it
meshes with what they do mentally in the confidence.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Fact, Yeah, it's similar to brock Purty, like nobody, nobody
viewed him as being a guy who could put up
these numbers and take a team to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Put him in the Shanahan offense. Hey, that's fitting.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
Say well, Lamar Jackson in Baltimore right, by the way,
do you who do you have coming out of the AFC?
Speaker 6 (30:58):
Steve, I love Baltimore. I mean that's just your team.
Speaker 10 (31:02):
And you know, spending some time at the training camp,
and I've probably been with the Ravens like the whole time.
You know, you've got the Chiefs, You've got the Bills,
But the Ravens are just so complete, and I think
the fact that their defense has its footing. Remember last
year they started with a lot of question marks. The
offensive line started the question marks. Those are solid right now,
so I think they could continue to rock and roll
with Lamar doing what you think about that forty one touchdowns,
(31:24):
four picks, and he wasn't the MVP.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
Amazing Steve Weiss NFL Network. Great stuff, Steve, keep up
the good work.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
You love your work.
Speaker 6 (31:34):
Appreciate you, guys,
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 back.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
It's Wednesday in Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Wherever you are,
however you may be listening. I think I got that right.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I've never tried that. It just came to me.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
It's me Jason McIntyre filling in for Colin Cowherd. He
is breathlessly texting me updates about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelcey,
and I'm relaying them to Rachel Nichols, who.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I'm joined by again today. Rachel, No, Colin's not actually texting, said,
I'm not sure this is quick.
Speaker 5 (00:59):
This is his.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Last hurrah and now maybe he's on the golf course today.
I don't but uh, Rachel and I listen. We've been
hit for breaking news every day, so keep it locked.
Who knows what's coming down? Now, we did get a
little tease about some not great news, which we'll get
you shortly. Uh, Kansas City Chiefs fans tuned in. But
I'm gonna start the show, obviously with the big news
(01:21):
in sports, Travis Kelce Taylor Swift engaged. Now, I know
sports fans are already sick of it, their wives, their girlfriends,
their side pieces and whatever talking about.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Wait a minute, what kind of wedding dress is Taylor Swift?
Speaker 6 (01:38):
There were but do.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
They get a DJ or do they do a band?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Do they do an international wedding?
Speaker 4 (01:44):
And there's all this updates on all the celebrity websites
and also sports websites talking about this union, and folks,
I'm gonna take it in a different direction because we
do sports here on the show, and I'm gonna say,
how does this impact the act such a football product
of the Kansas City Chiefs. And it keeps coming back
to one thing that's fairly obvious that this has to
(02:07):
be the last dance for the triumvirate of Andy Reid,
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Right, I mean, you guys,
remember a few years ago Baker Mayfield led the NFL
in commercials and on the field the product.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Was not great. Well, what are we doing with Travis Kelce?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
I mean, he's talked about retirement, He's among the league
leaders in commercials, He's a full blown celebrity. Now, okay,
he's engaged to the most famous woman on the planet
and now they're going to be planning a wedding. By
the way, side note, Travis Kelce's dad gave a random
interview to a Cleveland TV station. I don't know, there's
(02:43):
some kind of connection there, and he said, oh yeah,
basically they got engaged two weeks ago, which then makes
you wonder about that whole podcast appearance.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Listen, there's just so much happening here, but guess what's
not happening?
Speaker 6 (02:56):
Football?
Speaker 4 (02:57):
And I mentioned the last dance because Jordan Pippot and
Phil Jackson they knew that that was it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
It's over.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
On some level, guys, Patrick Mahomes has to know this
is it. I mean, Travis Kelce turns thirty six in October.
He's going into the final year of his contract.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
He's openly talked about retirement.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
I mean, he's laying the groundwork for a post football career.
I mean he's podcasting, he's in Happy Go More too.
By the way, just a quick review, I didn't think
the movie was great. It was okay, but I did
think Travis Kelcey was kind of good. I thought Bad
Bunny was good. I didn't even know it was Bad Bunny.
But like Travis kelce wasn't terrible. And you know, he's
(03:41):
doing a lot of commercials. I have a feeling he's
gonna have a pretty lucrative post football career. But that's
post football. We still have a season to go. And again,
I don't think they're a super Bowl team. I had
them third in my Super Bowl tier yesterday. Shocker Chiefs
fans did not like that. But when you kind of
(04:01):
drill down and start thinking, like, man, maybe this is coming.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
To an end every couple of years.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Andy Reid, who by the way, is sixty seven years old,
he's talking about retirement. So you know, if Kelsey and
Reid walked away after this, it would not shock me.
I think the dynasty is over. They had their shot
in the Super Bowl. They got smashed.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Folks.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
The Rashi Rice news that's emerging right now, you know,
Adam Schefter reporting looks like it's gonna be the first
six games of the season. That's putting even more pressure
on Travis Kelce, who oh, by the way, is coming
off a career low in receiving yards touchdowns. Like things
are not looking great, especially if for she Rice is
cooked for the first six games. So I'm to say,
(04:41):
I know, it's just saying, you know, don't cry because
it's over, Smile because it happened.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
That's how I'm feeling about this Chief's run.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
As you see Mahomes running around celebrating they had a
great run, it's over. And Travis Kelce, you know he
could have a great Swan song. I'm sure he's gonna
play better here. Listen, don't.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Run a mile and you're older, you know you want
to come out of the gate hot.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Now I'm competing of whoa, You're running out of gas quickly.
Kelsey's gonna have to step up here early in the season.
If for she Rice is indeed suspended for six.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Games, I don't think this.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Is gonna go as great as everybody's predicting. I know
they have my Homes and they have Reid and they
have Kelsey, but for how much longer this is probably it.
Now I'm gonna shift my focus to a team I
actually love, and that's the San Francisco forty nine Ers,
another team that I had yesterday that was mildly controversial
(05:32):
in my Super Bowl tiers.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
I had them in the first tier.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
That was met with a lot of scorn and derision
on the internet, but that's what people do online. And
the focus here is going to be a certain seventh
round quarterback by the name of Rock Perdy.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
So our friend Albert.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Brier was at forty nine Ers camp recently and he
spoke to Shanahan, Salah, Lynch and Purdy and brock Perdy
had a really interesting quote that jumped out and all
the aggregators weren wild.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Here's the quote from brock Perdy.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
I felt this pressure last season on myself to be
a superman type guy, go out and make plays off schedule.
And I did look, and yes, his rushing numbers were
up last season. A lot of that was running for
his life, because when your star running backs out and
your receiving rooms depleted, you know you got to try
(06:24):
to make plays. Now, I do need some context here
because brock perty last year was playing for a contract
he was making like eight hundred thousand dollars on that
seventh round, dead last pick in the draft rookie deal,
and he was looking to get elevated to be a
forty or fifty million dollar a year guy. Now, more
context needed. So this Niners team last year, we should
(06:47):
have seen the drop off coming. Okay, they had a
five year run where they went to two Super Bowls
and two conference championships. Perdy got hurt against the Eagles
the other one they lost, and the one year Jimmy
Garoppolo got injured and they missed the playoffs. But I
totaled it twelve playoff games in a five year span.
(07:08):
So it's no surprise that half the defense was hurt
last year and you see guys dropping like flies. Twelve
playoff games is almost another entire season. Remember the Golden
State Warriors kept going to the finals and then really
broke down rapidly.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
That was the Niners last year. But I've got a couple.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Things about Brock Purdy that I'm gonna hit you with
now that are going to be a surprise. So the
narrative was that you know, he wasn't good last year
and he was trying to be superman. He was playing
for a contract, and hey, as Colin likes to say,
the weather was bad and.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Brock Purty crumbled.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Well, you know, I do not like the blind taste
tests when it comes to quarterbacks.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
I feel like it's cheap and people kind of cherry pickstats.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
But I this morning just looking at stats for brock
Purty last year to go with these quotes, and then
I looked at the leaderboard.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
I'm like, brock Purdy.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Was not that bad last year. So, folks, here is
the first of two. I'm gonna compare brock Purdy to
another quarterback in the NFL last year. So you see
his passing yards perty plus about one hundred touchdown interceptions, party,
more touchdowns, more interceptions.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Yards per attempt.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
He was not a checkdown artist eight point five, much
better than this other quarterback and better in passer rating.
Let's see who the other quarterback is. Oh, oh, Matthew Stafford,
the much beloved Matthew Stafford. I like Stafford. I'm a
Stafford guy. But Stafford wasn't great last year. So Stafford
wasn't great. How was brock Purty awful? Okay, that's number one.
(08:45):
Now the staff came up with a second one. I
don't know who this guy is. Was I knew the
other one was Stafford. So here are the numbers. Stafford again,
more passing yards, more touchdowns, even interceptions, way better in
yards per attempt, and better in passer rating. Let's see
who the quarterback was compared to brock Purty last year.
Speaker 6 (09:03):
CJ. Stroud.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Oh wait a minute, brock Purty in his down year
was better than Stroud statistically and better than Stafford.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
What so brock Purty was it bad? Okay?
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Their tat is telling me right now we have one
more blind resume. Again, this wasn't run by me, so
I have no idea who this guy is. Touchdowns even,
yards per attempt edge to Purty, completion percentage dead even.
All right, let's see who this quarterback is, Rock Purty
versus Oh my, no, is that Justin Herbert?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
So again we can.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Bag on brock Purty all we want the numbers. Facts
say he was better than Justin Herbert, Matt Stafford, and
c J.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Stroud last year. That's a bit of a boom.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
My kid likes to do truth bomb, you know, with
the head exploding emoji. That's what I'm seeing there for
brock Purty. So we have Greg Cosell. Last week I
was on vacation, Cowhard brought in Greg Coselt to take
shots at pretty I don't know if he took shots.
Speaker 7 (10:05):
Here we go in terms of being what we call
a post snap operator. In other words, when he takes
the snap, he has such an intuitive feel for what
he sees, and therefore he's a really really good timing
and anticipation thrower. It's just innate to him. He sees
it really quickly. So Purdy is a high level post
(10:27):
snap operator. He's a really really good player. Purdy is
a really good quarterback. He's just not a dynamic athlete
who is necessarily going to make those kind of special
plays on his own. But as a pocket quarterback, he's
pretty high level.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Cosell dropping a little truth bomb there on my guy,
brock Purty. So I do want to say, I try
to help you guys out, okay, try to help you
be a little smarter on the gambling front, the fantasy
the takes and sometimes you don't want it or you
want to.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Just argue with me, folks. Just a few facts here.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
The forty nine ers this season are favored in fifteen
of seventeen games. Fifteen Er sent They're gonna be awesome,
and the only two times are dogs. They're short road
dogs against I think it's the Rams and Bucks back
to back.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Okay, so they're gonna be good.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
I don't care that you think, oh, the defense is washed,
all these new guys, they're gonna be really good.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Yeah, there it is.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
They're at the Rams and Bucks back to back in
weeks five and six. They are slight dogs. That schedule
is Cupcake City. Go find me the elite quarterbacks outside
of Stafford on that list and take your time, because
there aren't any folks.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
The Niners are going to be really freaking good last year. Now,
I'm gonna be honest.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
If I asked you the audience, give me the best
offense and defensive coaching combos in the league heading into
this season, and I'll give you one right out of the
Andy Reid and Spagnolo.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
They can be number one. Okay, who's second best in
the league?
Speaker 4 (12:06):
If you want to say Sean Payton and Vance Joseph,
I'm not gonna fight you, Okay, I'll give you that,
but I'll tell you right now, Kyle Shanahan and Robert
Sala has to be top three, top four at worst. Okay,
I know you're gonna bag on Salah. He was a
disaster with the Jets. Actually, guys, Robert Sala in two
and a half seasons with the Jets, the defense first
(12:29):
in points per drive, first in EPA per play, third in.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Defensive success rate.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
It wasn't Sala's fault as a defensive coordinator running the
Jets d It wasn't on him. Aaron Rodgers stunk and
he got hurt, and the Jets are a full blown
disaster top down every year.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
But it wasn't Sala's fault. I'm just telling you.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
The Niners are gonna be really good. You can get
on board early and do the victory lap with me
come November when they're looking at a number one seed,
or you can just continue to have your.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Opinion rock parties. A seventh round pick, he's garbage.
Speaker 6 (13:03):
You know who?
Speaker 4 (13:03):
You sound like the guy who was bagging on Tom
Brady early in his career. Oh, he's a game manager.
J Mack, he's not that good. Drew Bledsoe was the man,
and you kept saying that about Brady until you just
couldn't say it anymore, and he became the greatest quarterback
in NFL history. Like stop being wedded to your take
(13:27):
open your eyes rock party. Last year, better than Stafford,
numbers wise, better than Herbert, better than CJ. Stroud, forty
nine ers, favored in fifteen of seventeen games. I'm telling
you right now, get on board. You don't want to
be left behind now, Rachel. I know that's a big
plea to the audience. Hey, you can rock with me
or you can.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Just like argue with me. But I feel irrationally good.
You're laughing.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
I'm laughing.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I think you're right well, first of all.
Speaker 8 (13:53):
And I'm laughing because for people out there who don't
buy what you're saying, you said, oh, it's a cupcave schedule,
it's the easiest schedule.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
It's thirty two. It's number thirty two.
Speaker 6 (14:04):
It is the.
Speaker 8 (14:04):
Easiest schedule in the NFL this season. My concern, we
talked about it earlier in the week, is just the injuries.
I mean that wide receiver room has been decimated. And
Christian McCaffrey is still healthy.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
That's good. He's made it through preseason healthy.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Yay.
Speaker 8 (14:17):
But you know, we've talked about it that he is
I don't want to say fragile, because no one who
plays that position is fragile, frankly, but someone who has
had an injury history, right, So you just kind of
worry if some of those tools at brock Perty's disposal
are going to be available, right, that's my.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Nice Sure we need brand and ay you back, that'll
be nice if you could get help.
Speaker 8 (14:35):
It's not going to be immediate, right. So he's still
recovering from the knee injuries. So you know, it's one
of those things where health and luck as always have
to help these guys out.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
A little bit.
Speaker 8 (14:46):
But if it's even normal health at luck, which they
have not experienced so far in the preseason, but hopefully
once the season gets going, if they can just return
to a normal amount of injuries, then I'm with you
all the way. I think this will surprise some people.
We've talked about the NFC West. You know, I am
not as bullish on the Rams being you know, I
just Stafford. I don't know if he's gonna make it
(15:07):
through the whole season. So I think that we talked
at about the forty nine ers, all right.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I love agreement to start the show.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
All right, coming up next, stat emerge yesterday on Rachel's Commanders.
That is going to surprise. I was stunned by this.
Is it going to hold them back from the super Bowl?
That's next here on the Herd.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
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 5 (15:34):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 9 (15:39):
You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm
Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
of course the iHeartRadio App.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 9 (15:48):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture,
stories that well other shows don't seem to have the
time to discuss.
Speaker 9 (16:01):
And the fact that we've been friends for the last
twenty years and still work together. I mean that says something, right.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
So check us out. We like to get you involved,
to take your phone calls, chop it up, as they say.
Speaker 9 (16:11):
I'd say the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio,
maybe the most interactive show on planet Earth.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
Be sure to check out Cavino and Rich live on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to
seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific, And if you
miss any of the live show, just search Covin on
Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on
social media, that's Covino and Rich.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Back here on the Herd, got Steve Weisch of NFL
Network coming up in about twenty minutes. He's really locked
in now. I know he knows the Falcons. Well, they
had a big injury this week. Not great for my
Falcons futures. But let's go to a team that someone
actually cares about, and that's the Washington Commanders. What a
story they were last year, right, You had the Daniel
(16:54):
Snyder having to give up on a lose his ownership.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
You get the new group.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Coming in front office, new quarterback, new coach, knew everything,
and it clicked on a level that I mean, I
can't recall seeing that rapid of a turnaround.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Shout out to Dan Quinn, great job.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
But a stat came out yesterday about Washington kind of
blew me away. The Washington Commanders now have the oldest
roster in the NFL. And oh, by the way, it
is the oldest roster in the NFL in the last
twenty years.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
People actually track this stuff. I get it.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
When you are rebooting with a new owner, new front office,
new coach, new rookie quarterback, you need some veterans. So
last year they brought in some veterans. You know, Zach
Ertz linebacker Bobby Wagner, who was ridiculous last year. He
grated out as the third best middle linebacker in the league. Okay,
he's like thirty four to thirty five, and that's I
(17:49):
don't mean to make be like an agist, but let's
be real. Once you hit thirty in the NFL, outside
of quarterback, you're getting old. And they brought an Austin
Eckler running back who's on the older side. This year
they bring in von Miller Laramie Tunsel like they're an
older team. Deebo Samuel's kind of older. So they've got
all these veterans. But then you start to look at
(18:11):
the history of the oldest teams in the league and
it's not pretty at all.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
And you start to wonder.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
Okay, so last year they got a little lucky eight
and four in one score games. It wasn't Kansas City
Chiefs eleven or zero, but eight and four is really
really good. And oh, by the way, they beat the
Bears on a flukail Mary. They survived the Saints on
a two point conversion deal. Remember Jayden Daniels was incredible
in that game. Jaan Daniel was pretty incredible all season. Okay,
(18:42):
this stat is arguably like a top five stat from
last season in the entire NFL. So fourth down, If
you can go fifty sixty percent on fourth down, that's amazing, Right,
you get every other fourth down you go for you
get that.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
That would be incredible.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
The Washington command, we're twenty of twenty three on fourth
down last season, eighty seven percent. That is unsustainable. I
don't know if that'll ever be matched. When you look
at the amount of attempts they at twenty to twenty three,
I would kill for that as my free throw percentage
of my men's basketball league. Washington did that on fourth
(19:19):
down the highest leverage down. Defensive cordators are emptying the
kitchen sink on the blitz. A lot of pressure twenty
of twenty three is ridiculous. Can Jaden Daniels do that again?
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Probably not?
Speaker 4 (19:32):
And then you start to wonder, like, is this old
roster like they got through last season.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
What happens if.
Speaker 4 (19:37):
There's an injury to Bobby Wagner, what happens if the
von Miller can't really be a factor, zach Ertz get
gets banged up. These guys are getting older. And you
start to look up it on the schedule and you're like, oh,
this is a very tough schedule. This is arguable top
five schedule in the league.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
You get the layup against the Giants early, it.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
Is a divisional matchup, could be tricky, right with the
Giants front seven, Maybe they surprise the hell out of you.
But I mean Packers, I think the Falcons are gonna
be good. You get the Chargers, I mean Minnesota Vikings
are gonna be good. We know the Broncos are hella good.
Detroit Lions, like that is a difficult schedule, and you
(20:20):
start to wonder, all right, I know they were one
in four against playoff teams last year, but who cares
jay they And by the way, that one win was
Week eighteen against Kenny or whatever.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
I don't know if it was Week eight.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Team was late in the season when Jalen Hurts got
hurt and Kenny Pickett had to like fill in, like, guys,
what are.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
We doing here now?
Speaker 4 (20:38):
They did beat Detroit and Tampa in the playoffs, awesome,
but a lot of things are lining up to make
it look like Washington could have could have a very
difficult season ahead.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Neon Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
Back here on the Herd again, Steve Weisch, NFL reporter,
NFL Network.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
He's been there since two thousand and eight.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Steve, thanks for joining us on this day with more
breaking news involving the Chiefs. This is actual on field
product as opposed to the Kelsey Swift engagement. But obviously
the reci Rice news just broke. I'm curious a your
reaction and b you know what do you think the
impact will be on Kansas City's offense?
Speaker 6 (21:27):
Yeah, my colleague Tom Pelsero broke that.
Speaker 10 (21:30):
And what's interesting, remember he had a date set for
late September right so that woul allowed him to play
find out his fate. All of this stuff by now
he's getting this out of the way. So he suspended
for six weeks. According to Tom, he'll be able to
come back in week seven and then they can get rolling.
So that allows the Chiefs on the field to kind
(21:51):
of set their rotation and everything from now. It allows
Rice not to go back and forth like we've seen
some players go back and forth in the past. Are
they going to play again? Remember with Zeke Elliott? Are
they not going to play? So that just clears a
hurdle of the unknown. So we'll see how is he Rice,
who's a valuable part of what they do, how he
(22:11):
figures in when he comes back mid season put again
for the Chiefs football wise, it just allows him, let's
establish this, this is out of the way.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
Now all sides can function kind of knowing what is there.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Yeah, it's weird Rice.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
He hasn't played enough for us to know if he's great,
But in that one season he kind of popped. He
looked like he had top ten receiver potential, right with
the speed and the strength.
Speaker 10 (22:37):
Yeah, I mean, and he helps out what they like
to do in that offense, right, Remember he does the
up the seam stuff. He kind of helps Kelsey clear
things out in that middle of the field. Plus you
could tell Mahomes really likes him.
Speaker 6 (22:48):
I mean, they've got a chemistry there.
Speaker 10 (22:50):
I think they're both Dallas area guys, Texas guys, and
they train a lot in the offseason together, so that
chemistry helps. And so not having him, they knew it
was possibility. They didn't have them most of last year.
They worked around it. So now they'll work around it again,
find a way, and when he comes back, it could
be kind of a cherry on top type of thing.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Now, last year the receiver room was, you know, not great,
certainly bottom half of the league. Now you're looking at
Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy Juju, says Schuster. I don't does
this put more pressure on Travis Kelcey, who oh, by
the way, is thirty five and all the almost thirty six?
Speaker 6 (23:26):
No, I mean, look, the Chiefs do what they do.
Speaker 10 (23:29):
Last year, the issue wasn't so much the receiving core,
but it was the offensive line. Yeah, I mean, they
just didn't play well. They had issues that left tackle.
Then they moved Tuney out from guard to tackle. Some
uncertainty at that guard spot for a while. I think
if that part is solidified and We know they did
some things to try to change that offensive line, including
drafting someone in the first round. If that part solidified,
the Chiefs are going to do what they do. I mean,
(23:50):
as long as you got number fifteen, if they've got
a dink and dunk, they'll do that. They're going to
stretch the field here and there, they'll do that. So
I don't think it's so much on Kelsey and that
receiving crews on the guys up frontal at that offense
function the way Andy Reid wants it to function.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
So let's go to Kelsey real quick. Obviously, you know
he's a celebrity now, he was in a movie, he's podcasting,
he's engaged to Taylor Swift. Also entering the final year
of his contract. He's talked about retirement in the past.
He's talked about all the surgeries he's had. We would
it safe to assume this is his last ride? And
I'm just curious, do you think you know Andy Reid
is sixty seven. There's been speculation previously whether or not
(24:27):
he hangs them up. I mean, is there a world
where this is really the final run for Red Mahomes
and Kelsey together?
Speaker 6 (24:35):
It could be. I don't envision it.
Speaker 10 (24:37):
I mean, knowing those those guys as much as I do.
I mean, maybe Travis steps away. I'll tell you this,
he's got his body really together. I saw him some
stuff this offseason. He looks different, he looks fresh. Maybe
now that he's engaged, you know, he's going to be
super fresh.
Speaker 6 (24:53):
I don't know. Well with Andy Reid, I he seems
someone to me like he just I don't know what
he would.
Speaker 10 (24:58):
Do without coaching, and I just think that's kind of
something he hangs on to because he knows he impacts
lives in a lot of ways besides just on the
field and with his staff, and of course Patrick Mahomes
is going to be there.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
So I don't envision it.
Speaker 10 (25:12):
That's not to say it couldn't happen, But right now
I don't see Andy retaying.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
You know what, this is one last rodeo. We're going out.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
Let me pivot to Brock Purdy if you don't mind,
I am a brock pretty guy. I think he's undervalued significantly.
He had a quote to Albert Breer saying he tried
to do too much and be superman last year. I mean, Steve,
their whole team was banged up, he's playing for a contract.
I think he can be superman. I mean, we have
a couple of years worth of data on this guy.
(25:42):
He's really good, is he not.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
I'm with you.
Speaker 10 (25:45):
I've been a brock pretty guy ever since he came
in midstream as a third stringer against the Dolphins and
put up numbers like he'd been playing all of a sudden.
The third stringers don't get reps, so the fact he
played that way showed me he's got something to him.
I could see him trying to over extend himself last
year because there's a certain standard with the forty nine
ers and with you know, Trent Williams down, Deebo, Samuel down,
(26:08):
Brandon you know, not having a good year, Brandon Ayuk down.
Speaker 6 (26:11):
A lot of defenders down. This just wasn't the same team.
Speaker 10 (26:14):
So a lot of times guys are going to try
to do more than what they're not necessarily capable of doing,
but do more than what they should do to live
up to the standard that's been set. I think this
is a reset with some of the changes on that
roster on both sides of the ball, with a new
receiving crew and with.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
CMC back, the opportunity is there for brock Perty to
do some big things. I think this is kind of
a refresher for the forty nine ers.
Speaker 10 (26:38):
I don't know if they'll be dominant early, but we'll
see if they gain some traction and get going as
the season goes along.
Speaker 6 (26:43):
But I think Perdy is the least of their worries.
I think he's.
Speaker 10 (26:46):
Kind of north Pole that everybody can kind of look
to to guide them, to guide them through.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
I like that.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
I don't want to be body language expert guy when
it comes to Ben Johnson. But Steve, we keep seeing
video of him at the podium looking unhappy. Now, maybe
he's a serious guy, first head coaching job.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
He wants to look like a you know, a.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Tough guy who was really locked in. But it doesn't seem,
and it's early like things are going great with him
In Caleb Williams.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Rachel had a good point earlier.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
That like, he's not praising Caleb a ton and a
lot of it is criticism, and I don't know, Caleb.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Is a little fragile.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
We had this stuff from Seth Wickersham about how I
didn't want to go to Chicago in the first place.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
What do you make of all this?
Speaker 10 (27:29):
Well, I didn't see Bill Belichick ever very happy. I
know Andy Reid's a nice guy, but he's not the
most jovial. So, you know, in terms of how guys
appear at the press conference, I don't really know, you know,
having been in these situations. It's like the meeting rooms
and stuff. If a coach is like glazing you up
or are beating you down in front of the team
(27:50):
in the meeting rooms and really humiliating you in front
of your peers, that's where things really tend to ruffle feathers.
Speaker 6 (27:56):
Now. Some guys, you know, get bent out of shape
by what said in the media.
Speaker 10 (28:00):
But and I don't know Ben Johnson. I've been around him,
but he's just an intense guy. There are intense coach
you've been around Sean McVay. That dude never relaxes. Now
he is kind of captain positive, yes, but you know,
there's just different coaches with different styles. And I'm Ben
Johnson's got my benefit of the doubt until he doesn't.
(28:21):
So we'll we'll see how this works out. I do think,
you know, And I heard the quote that he said
it's going to take a minute for this entire offense
to get going.
Speaker 6 (28:27):
And they got a new offensive line, a lot of
new pieces. It's going to take a minute. But once
they get it going.
Speaker 10 (28:32):
With Ben Johnson, what he did in Detroit, defensive coordinators
fear some of his scheming.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
We'll see if it translates now that he's in this
new role.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
I love to ask you guys in the media. You
go to camps, you talk to people. I mean, we're
just out here blathering. Is there a team that you
see that's maybe undervalued with respect to what everybody else
is saying. I want that team to be the Atlanta Falcons,
a team you know, well, they got an injury on
the line this week, it's really bad. Is there a
team that you've seen that you think, hey, man, nobody's
(29:02):
really talking about X.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
I think they could pop.
Speaker 6 (29:05):
It's the team that's in Atlanta's conference, and that's Tampa Bay.
Speaker 10 (29:08):
It's a that's won the division. I don't think we
talk about them enough. Roster wise. They are solid pretty
much through and through. But when we talk about teams
with a culture, that's a team that's got a culture
we don't talk about.
Speaker 6 (29:21):
There is a standard there now in Tampa Bay.
Speaker 10 (29:23):
When new players come there, they understand defensively, you better
be physical no matter what you do offensively, you better
be precision on time. And we talk about how you know,
first Dave Canalis and Lea and Comb got the best
out of Baker Mayfield. Maybe Baker is the king maker, right.
I think Tampa Bay is a team that we better
(29:44):
start paying a lot more attention to, just because they've
got something institutionally now that's been in place for four
or five years that we've neglected.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
I didn't think about that.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Maybe Baker's the guide, not all these coaches that they
keep cycling through. The Baker's story is fascinating, how he
was kind of kicked to the curb in Cleveland. It
was over and then it was rams and there was
one other team. And he's now he's like a full.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Blown pro bowler, right, he's legit.
Speaker 10 (30:13):
And when you got Mike Evans and you draft a
BUCA who all reviews on him coming out of camp
had been great, you know, with God went on the
shelf to start the season, he's got an opportunity to
keep doing some things. And look, he's he's kind of
started this thing. You see Geno Smith kind of following there,
can Sam Darnold following there in Seattle, where maybe it's
(30:35):
more you get the talented player in the right situation
and then that talent can start to shine as it
meshes with what they do mentally in the confidence.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Fact, Yeah, it's similar to brock Purty, like nobody, nobody
viewed him as being a guy who could put up
these numbers and take a team to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Put him in the Shanahan offense. Hey, that's fitting.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
Say well, Lamar Jackson in Baltimore right, by the way,
do you who do you have coming out of the AFC?
Speaker 6 (30:58):
Steve, I love Baltimore. I mean that's just your team.
Speaker 10 (31:02):
And you know, spending some time at the training camp,
and I've probably been with the Ravens like the whole time.
You know, you've got the Chiefs, You've got the Bills,
But the Ravens are just so complete, and I think
the fact that their defense has its footing. Remember last
year they started with a lot of question marks. The
offensive line started the question marks. Those are solid right now,
so I think they could continue to rock and roll
with Lamar doing what you think about that forty one touchdowns,
(31:24):
four picks, and he wasn't the MVP.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
Amazing Steve Weiss NFL Network. Great stuff, Steve, keep up
the good work.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
You love your work.
Speaker 6 (31:34):
Appreciate you, guys,
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