April 15, 2025 • 33 mins
Joel Klatt joins The Herd to talk about the top prospects in the NFL draft, Shedeur Sanders, and the hold out of Nico Iamaleava
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
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Speaker 1 (00:24):
Interesting, I said yesterday, people got really worked up over it,
and I understand this. We had our first college football
holdout with Nico Iamaliava, a really talented kid. He was
number two I think in his recruiting class to arch
Manning Tall moves got a whip. You know, he's young,
needs to be refined. And so basically Tennessee said, listen, kid,
(00:45):
we paid a two point five million a red shirt,
weren't you know? I know it's easy to blame the kid,
But when people get leverage employees, and that's what college
football players are, people use it. And I'm blame the
NCAA for playing catch up on this nil and transfer
portal for four years. First of all, let's start with this,
(01:07):
because let's spend some time on this. What was your
initial reaction? What were you mad at or who who
was to blame here?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
The void, the void in a lack of enforcement, that's
that's who to blame. I think it's it's really easy
to just immediately jump on Niko Yamalayava. I think it's
easy to take Tennessee's side right away. And I'm not
saying that that he's right and they're wrong. I just
think that what's what's what's bigger than this situation is
(01:41):
this void of enforcement, and the that void is what
has created this problem. It's it's it's eerily similar, by
the way, eerily similar to do you remember after the
ninety four baseball strike, Colin and Baseball turned a blind
eye to the steroid era, yep, because it brought the
fans back. And then all of a sudden it was
(02:03):
a problem, you know, And and the NCAAA basically, you know,
abdicated their responsibility to govern the sport. And to be
fair to them, they were forced into that situation because
of you know, litigation, and the courts basically told them
they had no jurisdiction. What with no jurisdiction, there are
(02:23):
there are no ways to enforce rules. Once there's no
way to enforce rules. Now it is it's a total
free for all. What's what's fascinating in this instance is
that part of his recruitment, Nico's recruitment was brought as
an infraction to the NCAAA, and Tennessee fought it tooth
and nail and actually sued the NCAAA, and and that
(02:48):
lawsuit is what led to almost directly a memo being
sent to the member institutions of the NCAAA that said, verbatim, basically,
we no longer will enforce anything around in il. So
Tennessee created the vacuum and is now crying foul when
that vacuum is being exploited by one of the players
(03:09):
that play on their team. That's so, that's just like
a little bit of a like a backstory, which I
think is fascinating. And again this is not he's right
there wrong. This is more about the fact that there's
very little rules, there's very little enforcement, if any, and
that's really the problem here. These are growing pains for
what will eventually be a system that has a better
(03:31):
system of guardrails and rules that everyone agrees upon basically
mutually agreed upon rules between the players and the stakeholders
that then they can move forward with and then not
the last thing. But I do want to finish with
this on this answer. It's never exactly what we're hearing Colin.
This is I do not believe that Niko Iamalava walked
(03:57):
out on a Friday because he wanted a million and
a half more dollars. I don't think that that's the case.
I think that there's more at play. I have heard
that he and his people wanted the offense to grow
and change a little bit, because that offense, in its inception,
that's the Art Briles old Baylor offense, and no quarterback
(04:19):
has really succeeded going from that offense to the National
Football League's. And we see this by the way in
big moments that Tennessee has in big games, is that
their passing attack, which is so prolific at times, really
goes away. And we saw that, you know, even back
with Hindon Hooker and others, And so he wanted it
(04:39):
to grow and to change, and through spring football apparently
that didn't. I think he's also being given some bad
advice by people around him. So there's a lot at
play here, and I don't think it's just this narrative
that it's one greedy player and he held out for
this specific amount and then this school, and good for them.
They said, No, I don't think that that's the entire story.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, for the record, let me just throw it out here.
If he's the top free agent now, Lincoln Riley's got
a good roster, his best that are okay at quarterback?
What about USC? He's a California kid. Jordan mentioned this.
Ucla didn't have the money, Tulane's not going to do it.
Texas has their quarterback. I don't know. I look at this.
(05:23):
USC's nil now is close to eighteen million. Oregon doesn't
want him. I think USC makes sense to my wrong.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I don't think that you're wrong at all. I could
see him back on the West Coast, I would I
would think that he wants to be in the Big ten,
I would think, but I think he could wind up
somewhere else. I think UNC is interesting. North Carolina. That's
that's just to keep your eye on that.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
He's a lot. It's a lot for but I don't
know if North Carolina's got four million for one guy ununderstandable.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
But I just keep an eye on it, is all
I would say. I don't think that that I would predicted.
The LA schools make a lot of sense. Now. I
have heard that there has been a huge, quiet influx
of UCLA money. That's all. So I'm not going to
(06:15):
be shocked if he winds up at UCLA.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I would be, But that's interesting. I like that, all right,
draft is what we got nine days away or something
from the draft. And I saw a story today the Giants,
we're flying the Boulder. We want more and more. Look
at Shador Sanders. In my take is you don't want
Shendon Sanders. You want to send the message that you
(06:42):
want him because you want the Saints to move up
and give you picks, because if you liked him, you
wouldn't assigned. You know, Russell Wilson and Jamis Winston. What
are you hearing? You know, as somebody that's been at Colorado,
what's your guests on Shador Sanders? I hear Saints nine,
Steelers twenty one. Where do you think he goes? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I think that the Saints are are really in play.
Here's the interesting part about the because you bring up
New York, but I want to I want to lump
them in with Cleveland for a moment. Okay, like they
each need a quarterback, wouldn't you agree, Like they've got
to come away with a quarterback in their first two picks.
(07:21):
If they each pass on Shadoor and then he does
get taken by either New Orleans or Pittsburgh, then that
leaves those two picks early in the second round where
they're fighting over Jackson Dart maybe and they're having to
trade maybe back into the first round in order to
pass one one or the other in order to get
Jackson Dart. So I think it really comes down to
(07:45):
for Cleveland and for New York, like this evaluation of
where do you have Shador in relation to Jackson Dart,
And that's the evaluation that's going to matter.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Now.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
I happen to have Shador quite a bit above of
Jackson Dark.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I'm thrower the football absolutely, of.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Course, of course, and he ran a much more pro
oriented offense. And what I mean by that is is
post snap decision making and discernment versus pre snap wins
that then you exploit. You know, Lane does a great
job offensively, but a lot of that is pre snap wins.
You're leveraging an area of the defense and everybody knows
where the ball is going before the snap of the football.
(08:26):
That wasn't the case with Colorado. Now it led to
a lot of sacks obviously, which you can't question Shootoor's toughness,
but man, he's very accurate and he definitely operated in
an NFL system post snap, as opposed to maybe some
of the other guys in this draft. So the other
thing that I'll say is is this is not like
even remotely the first time. The Sanders camp and the
(08:52):
Giants camp have spent a lot of time together. And
I'm talking way before the draft process. I'm talking during
the fall. They spent a lot of time and there
was a bit of a feeling out process both directions,
and there was a feeling in the fall that the
(09:13):
Sanders camp wanted to sign off on Okay, yeah, I
think we would be good going to New York. So
I think that there's probably a little bit more smoke
to this than people realize. I don't think that New
York is just sending a message to New Orleans. I
think that there's a real opportunity and possibility that they
(09:37):
select him there in the top five.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
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Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah, I got to tell you. I generally I always
said this. If you wanted to win arguments at a
sports bar, always say I don't think they take me
with you. I agree, just say when it comes to
quarterbacks in the draft, I don't think he's as good
as they where he got drafted, Shadure is the very
because most of these guys are never I mean I
(10:09):
can go to Trevor Lawrence. Most of them just aren't
as good as you think. Almost all of them are,
you know, a little overdrafted. I thought the.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Need outpaces the ability almost every single time. Because the
need is so great.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I find myself I'm the opposite with Shador Sanders. First
of all, he is bigger in person than you think.
There's multiple pieces of video him standing in pre or
postgame next to normal sized humans like you and I.
He is a big kid. He is super accurate. He
can take a hit. He got sacked like Garret goffin college,
(10:47):
just got ragdall. And by the way, he's had money.
His dad's dion, so it's not like he's gonna blow it.
He is the rare player I think is better at
his position than the league. I think the leagues get
you know what I think is happening. The league doesn't
quite know what to do with social media. So now
players can say something goofy on the platform and now
(11:10):
they get paid, and I think it turns off a
lot of NFL front office guys. You know Caleb Williams's
fingernails and he jumped into the crowd. All this stuff
was mostly happening, you know, a lot of his social stuff.
You just didn't see it, and now you see it,
and it's freaking people out. I don't know Shador, but
his personality doesn't bother me, and I think it does.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I mean, I've spent time around him, and I can
tell you like he's about football.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yes, he.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Has a deep desire to be great. And that's that's rare,
more rare than you would think.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Let me put it to you this way. There are
guys that love football and there are guys that love
being football players. Chador, as much as it looks like
he loves the attention and being a football player, he
loves football and has a deep desire to be great
and believes that he will be, which which again is
also rare. Two things that you cannot question at all,
(12:14):
really three, but two his toughness. You already mentioned that
he is as tough as they come.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
He Jared Goff. That was one of the things. He
and Jared Goff just got crushed for two years, the
last two years of college and don't get hurt.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
That's right. And he stay stayed in there, and he
hung in there, And then you cannot question his accuracy.
He is lethal. He can put the football in a
shoe box really anywhere on the field, mostly inside the numbers.
Not quite as strong of an arm as cam Ward,
who has the ability to really stretch and attack every
blade of grass. But man, those are two things that
(12:52):
you can't question. And then you can't question the offense
that he came out of. In terms of what I
was talking about a little bit earlier, this idea of
post snap decision making and post control of the field,
and he certainly has that. I agree with you, Listen,
I've been a huge believer in him. There's also this
element and I've preached this on your show and several others.
(13:12):
But Colin, I've told you how bad Colorado was before
they got there, and everybody immediately talks about the coach
Prime effect or the Travis Hunter effect. What took them
from one win to nine wins was, yes, those guys,
but mainly it was Shadoor. It was the fact that
he was a great quarterback. And so now he's going
to go into a situation where he's going to be
asked to take a program again that is not where
(13:36):
it needs to be, an organization that's not where it
needs to be, and he's going to be asked to
elevate the entire organization. He's already done that once, and
that's not the case all the time in this process.
Remember when we're evaluating these guys, most of the time,
we're taking quarterbacks that had the best players in college
football around them, the best team around them, the most
resources around them, and played inferior competition. And now we're
(14:00):
trying to evaluate that player as it relates to a
league in which he's not going to have those things.
At least with Shador, we can have an apples to
apples discussion about what he did with lesser resources against
better competition, just like he's going to be asked to
do in the National Football League.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I want to end with this, so I asked Nick Wright,
and I said this earlier is that I do believe
international players can be the face of leagues. Connor McGregor, UFC, MESSI, MLS,
Shoheo Tani baseball. It's all about American likes winners. And
when Rory elected to stay with a PGA tour, which
(14:39):
I never I defended all the guys that went live.
I had no problem with it because golf was a charity.
It didn't run the Masters or British Open, my two
favorite tournaments. So you know, our government has relationships with
the Saudis. I don't blame a golfer, but there is
some value in retaining that PGA connection. And when Rory
won Sunday, I'm like, he's the face of golf because
(15:02):
he makes me feel like Tiger Woods made me feel
at the US Open with rock O Mediate when I
was no longer in the media, I was a fanboy.
I was just a fan. I gave up my journalism,
cred what little I have, and I'm sitting there with
Rory and I'm like, yeah, I'm rooting. I'm a fan.
It's over. I don't I'm not anti Bryson. What did
(15:22):
you make as somebody who loves golf, knows golf, what
did you make of that four and a half hours
of television?
Speaker 3 (15:29):
It was incredible television. I mean I was so locked in.
I would have been anyways, but man like, it was dramatic.
There were wild swings every direction. You know, McElroy is down,
he's up, Deshambo's up, He's down, Roses back, you know,
(15:49):
Oberg is. I mean, it's it was riveting television. Now
this is a little bit different than the direction you
want to take this. Do you know what I ultimately
came away with on Sunday As a guy who really
loves the sport. I really do love golf.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
One.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I love watching history, and we saw history with him
winning the Grand Slam, and you saw that in the
emotion as he made that final putt. But the other
thought was Colin. It made me, in hindsight, appreciate Tiger
Woods even more because as amazing as that was, to
watch the ebbs and flows, go back on YouTube and
(16:30):
watch even in twenty nineteen, which Tiger is a shell
of what he was in his prime, and watch his
back nine. It's surgical. He doesn't hit gap wedges into
the bunker, you know, like he doesn't dump an eighty
yard shot into Ray's Creek on thirteen. The ball hits
the correct spot on the green every single time. And
(16:52):
so we're watching this guy who's a generational talent, the
face of the PGA tour, fall all over himself and
finally get to the line he's he's just stumbling and
stumbling and just gets his nose across. And I'm thinking
back to those those moments, and I'm like, that's why
Tiger was the greatest of all times because he never
did that to us. He was a stone cold assassin,
(17:14):
and and that's what I That was my takeaway. I
was more impressed with Tiger Woods after that watching Roy
McElroy win the Masters that I've ever been.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
You know, there's only two athletes in my life, Michael
Jordan and Tiger that were always at their best in
the biggest moments. Muhammada Muhammad Ali lost fights that he
was a favorite. Ronaldo and Messi have lost matches, they're
the favorite. Rory Phil Lebron have lost finals where now
(17:42):
Lebron's often been the underdog. But there's only two athletes.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
And even Brady. As great as Brady was, he lost
as an undefeated.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
I mean it's like Tiger and MJ were in my lifetime.
Going back to Allie who lost to Fraser once Ken Norton,
I mean there were fights he was supposed to win.
He lost. Only two guys that were every time. And
by the way, both built different. I mean, like there's intense,
then there's MJ and Tiger like theirs skin. It's funny,
(18:13):
you know what. Another takeaway I had is that when
I when I used to watch Tiger on the tour,
he didn't look like a golfer. He looked like and Reid.
He looked like a Rover, a safety right like he
was the first guy he was. He was what they
call flat belly. A golf you to have guys in
bad pants who are a little heavy, and then you
look at Tiger. Now you watch these got Rory's cut,
the shambo is a middle linebacker Brooks Kepcauz big. That's
(18:37):
the influence of Tiger is that Tiger's like, oh yeah, yeah,
this is a marathon, this is this is a fight.
You got to be in great shape, and god, it
was good TV.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
It was it was great. It was great. Like I said,
I love history watching him bogie that eighteenth hole.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I was.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
It was just It's like I thought there was no
chance he was winning. And by the way, by the way,
Justin Rose made ten birdies on Sunday. The fact that
he didn't win is gonna bury what I think could
be maybe the greatest Sunday round in Masters history, ten birdies.
(19:22):
Gary Player didn't make ten birdies when he won with
a sixty four, like ten birdies didn't win.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
I had nine when I played Saturday, So he topped.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Is that right? Is that right? You were just you
were like you were an assassin like Tiger, just middle
of the green, dropping putts.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I get into that zone with my five wood, you know,
all right, nobody hits a fair way wood. Who am
I kidding? Joel Klapp, I'm gonna see it, buddy. As always,
you two, buddy, have a good day, all right? Heard
line news around the corner alive at Lanced.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
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Speaker 5 (20:00):
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Speaker 6 (20:05):
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Speaker 5 (20:06):
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Speaker 2 (20:17):
Going on in the world.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
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Speaker 1 (20:58):
Good stuff on a Tuesday. Here's with the news.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
This is the herd Line News all right, calling the
NFL kicks off. The NFL Draft kicks off next Thursday,
and there has been a consensus that the quarterback class
is lacking day one starter. But don't tell that to
Seahawks GM John Schneider, who pushed back on that notion
in a recent radio appearance.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
I think it's it depends on the team how they
view the player of the quarterback again, how you're gonna
acquire them, where you're gonna acquire them, But you know,
bring him through the building is another. It's it's just
it's really about, Okay, more time. We need more answers,
we need more time with this player based on the
questions that we need answered in terms of the vision
(21:44):
we see for this player on the fit. It's not
necessarily like that's it's it's separate from how you can
acquire the player.
Speaker 6 (21:50):
On draft weekend, Colin I reported earlier that dal Dalen
Milroe he's visiting Seattle today. Yeah, and I bring him
up because he's a mobile quarterback and under the John
Schneider era in Seattle, he's only drafted two quarterbacks, including
Russell Wilson. That was the big one that hit. Could
you see a guy like Jalen Milroe in Seattle, and
(22:12):
when would Seattle potentially need a quarterback in this draft?
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Well, I thought they should have gone last year for Pennix.
That was my take. I didn't like there were two patient.
I think Milroe would be good for them because, like Darnold,
he's a mover, so you wouldn't have to change the
offense significantly if Sam gets two good years and by
Thanksgiving of Milroe's second year he's playing. He's a remarkable
(22:36):
athlete and a hard working, great kid. He's a bit mechanical,
so my comp for him is a much much. I
don't see Lamar Jackson, who's more fluid as an athlete.
I don't see Lamar Jackson at all. Lamar was oh
as sinewy, moved well, very fluid, very beautifully fluid athlete.
Anthony Richardson is a bit more mechanical. Jalen's very mechanical,
(22:59):
but unlike Richardson, he has streaks of accuracy. He throws
up really pretty accurate deep ball. But he is one
of those he's transitioning from. I mean, Jalen with a
shirt off at Combine looks like a Mike linebacker shirt like.
He is a great athlete, So I think you have
to be totally patient. He's very much about where he lands.
(23:21):
If Anthony Richardson had not played yet and this was
his first time playing this year, it may be a
different version. But we've seen all those mistakes and what
happens when you have to play early and you're not ready.
You lose people in the front office, you lose the
locker room. Guys want to win and you don't. So
if Jalen could come in and just sit for two years,
that's his best course to succeed.
Speaker 6 (23:42):
Yeah, and we've seen a lot of quarterbacks Jalen hurts
guys that have come in and not played right away
and then had success. You mentioned Richardson. See, I would
wonder if his lack of success his first two years
in Indie hurts someone like Milroe, who probably isn't ready
to play right now, needs a year maybe two. Does
that hurt someone like him because you see, okay, this
(24:03):
is not a path to success now.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Guy, I I don't know. I have a hard time
not drafting a player because a player from the same
school at mess to come.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Yeah, I don't Yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Just to Anthony Richardson played thirteen college games, and at
best he was a risky pick.
Speaker 6 (24:23):
Yeah, and they took him forth.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah he was a at best. You know, remember Indy
got trapped because Andrew Luck retired and then Ersay got
impulsive and said Carson Wentz get out of here. So
the Colts Chris Ballard has basically been bailing water at
quarterback for multiple years. None of it his fault, so
they they were forced into an anthony. Chris Ballard would
have never picked him there if he could have had
(24:47):
still Carson Wentz or Philip Rivers, you know.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
And you mentioned her say too. Last point I'll make
is some of these franchises and this year's draft, for example,
Cleveland has them Giants, Mara, you wonder how much the
owner will be involved when it comes to quarter That's
something really monitor And we just heard Oklatt say that
the Giants had done a lot of work on son
Or Sanders dating back to October. So you would think,
as to your point, they already know who he is.
(25:11):
You know, there's no real reason to go to Boulder
unless you really feel like there's a smoke screen, which
is what you're what you've been saying. The Bears have
made some moves this offseason, headlined by bringing in Ben Johnson.
Another edition was former Rams gard Jonah Jackson, who had
an injury plague season, missing thirteen games. Jonah Jackson talked
about how Chicago is a great place for him to
(25:33):
revitalize his career, saying quote, all that matters is how
you bounce back. I'm excited to get back to it,
string a full season together and get a damn ring.
It's worth noting that Chicago has made a lot of
upgrades on their offensive line, including Drew Dolman, the center
from Atlanta. The Bears have not won a playoff game
since twenty ten. I thought the Ben Johnson hire was
the perfect hire. I also recognized that this roster, although improved,
(25:57):
is still probably a year away. But I do think
they have a chance to win nineteen. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I don't think the rosters a year away from anything.
I think it's a really good roster. I mean, if
you gave me their ten best players and I went,
you know, Kayleb Williams is somewhere in there, sweat, Jalen Johnson,
DJ Moore, Junees a year two, Dolman, Joe Tooney, no,
Cole Comett. You get to about seven or eight players.
(26:22):
They're all good. This is not Carolina's roster. You've got
seven or eight. I mean Keenan Allen would be like nine.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
The problem is that division Green Bay Detroit.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
I don't think it's I don't think it's a talent issue.
I said this about Denver when Sean Payton took it over.
They had Garrett Bowles, they had Courtland Sutton, they had
a good rush end from Oklahoma. They had a running
back I like that, had a safety I love, they
had the best corner in the game. They had linebackers
that ran well. It's like Sean Payton just had to
get quarterback right, and it's like, oh, they're a playoff team.
(26:55):
Chicago's roster is very much like Denver. If they can
get the quarterback, you can make the playoffs. With the
Bears roster. This is not a rebuild. This is a
good roster.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
Yeah. He also Ben Johnson also brought a lot of
his staff from Detroit. There'll be a lot of I
think synergy there already, which is sometimes hard for a
first year head coach that doesn't have the staff in place.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Joe Tooney's a top three guards. They got him. Drew
Dolman's a top five center. They got him. Yeah, so,
I mean, and they love their right tackle, so it's
like three of their five ozer linemen are elite they
really like.
Speaker 6 (27:28):
So really, it just comes down of the quarterback, and
there's no reason to believe he won't be significantly.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
And what if they get Ashton Gent Then all of
a sudden, the running back room is like, wow, okay,
because the tight end room's good receiver, room's good coach.
Offensively is clever, all lines fixed. The Bears issue is
they have been so Pittsburgh. Their whole identity has always
been defense, for sure, and you know the Packers, over
the last thirty years, their identity has been offense. Look
(27:54):
who's still winning. So the league pivoted to offense. The Bears,
to their credit with higher in this offseason, have said, Okay,
we don't want to be distigree. Let's go spend money
on offense. Let's go get cheap and draft defense.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (28:07):
I agree, speaking of defense, maybe offense. Travis Hunter easily
one of the most intriguing draft prospects in recent memory
due to his two way ability. Now, Hunter has met
with many teams in the lead up to the draft calling,
all of which haven't had any issues with him playing
on both sides of the ball. However, Hunter made it
very clear that if a team did tell him to
(28:28):
pick just one position, he said, he'd rather quote never
play football again. Now, I think I think the NFL
is looking at this wrong. I think Travis Hunter is
shoey Otani. If I told you Colin you could have
shoe Otani, would you be interested in him? Yes, Travis Hunter.
He played seven hundred and fifty three snaps on offense
(28:51):
eighty seven percent and over eighty three percent on defense.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
He can do it. Now.
Speaker 6 (28:56):
I don't know if that means he can do both
all the time, but the fact that he is so smart,
so gifted, and so special, and the fact that this
is Keith Dion already said the time in between plays
isn't really an issue. And you get more time thirty
six seconds in the NFL compared to thirty two in college.
He'll have more time to adjust. I just think, Travis Hunter,
(29:16):
if we're really looking at him as a generational prospect,
which he is on both sides of the ball, then
not only should he be in contention to be the
number one overall pick, but we should be looking at
him like a future all pro.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Well. I think in twenty twenty five I would put
him on offense and then I would use him on defense,
but I would make him a centerpiece offensively. He is long, fast, athletic,
incredible catching radius. I just think in today's game, get
him to the offensive side, get him sixty five snaps
if I get him twenty eight snaps on defense. And
(29:51):
by the way, anybody that gets him at the top
of the draft's a bad team. If you want to
play him a hundred snaps, go for it. But I
do think going forward there's a lot more money catching
the ball than defending it.
Speaker 6 (30:03):
Sure, yeah, but I just think if he wants to
do it, and you've seen the tape that he can,
then he should be given the opportunity. I don't know
how many.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Happy the employees are better employees. Let him play both.
Speaker 6 (30:15):
Yeah, especially if he's in a bad team and he
can really learn both, because it's going to help him
playing both positions. You know, it'll help him understand it
to the NBA where the playoffs tip off tonight. In
the play in game, Yeah, talked a lot about this
Hawk's Magic, Grizzlies, Warriors. Odds makers have given the Thunder
a slight edge over the Celts to win the Lary
O'Brian plus one eighty, Boston just behind them plus one ninety.
(30:41):
Here's the rest of the top five. So goes Thunder, Celtics, Calves, Lakers, Warriors,
Warriors plus fifteen hundred. The public's betting favorite are the
Lakers plus thirteen hundred. Where do you stand?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
I would put the Celtics ahead of the Thunder. I'd
go Celtics, Celtics, Lakers, Thunder, Calves, Calves fourth only because
Warriors are too high. Calves fourth only because they have
to face the Celtics should be number one. We're undervaluing
how deep and good they are. They have nine guys
(31:16):
who can shoot, pass and hit a three. Nobody in
the league can match that, So Celtics should be number one.
Put them in any order after that. I do think
we're overvaluing the Clippers late regular season surge, and we're
undervaluing how good the Lakers three headed playmaker Luca Austin
(31:37):
Lebron is in the plass. You get into playoff games
and it's one oh four each three and a half
to go. Nobody except Boston in this league has three
guys who you trust to take a shot except the Lakers.
I think the Lakers offensively are and again I'm not
counting Ruey from the corner. Jackson Hayes kind of a
pogo stick, you know, Ali, you guy, I think the
(31:59):
Lakers are. They're not a great defensive team, but I
you know, Denver won a title several years ago and
it was middle of the pack bench and defense, So
I don't think that's the be all end all.
Speaker 6 (32:08):
Yeah, you The only way to do it in Denver,
by the way, is plus three thousand, is if you
have a truly transcendent player. The Lakers have.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Two of them.
Speaker 6 (32:15):
So even though they don't have that necessarily big you
mentioned Jackson eighty's blot some shots, the fact that they
have two three closers is pretty significant.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Jordan with the news, Well that's the news, and thanks
for stopping by the Herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Good show today. Nick Wright was, as usual, very entertaining.
Joel Klatt stopped by as well. Yeah, good show today.
Nick Wright's around the corner the Warriors tonight. They're seven
point favorites. They got actually a very fortuitous matchup. Memphis
is a team that's talented, but young and not always
(32:53):
trustable in big spot, so the Warriors, and it depends
on the night. They're not always a wildly dynamic team.
Buddy Heeled and stephf are both hitting threes. Watch out.
But I like the Warriors tonight. I'm not sure how
close it is. I like Golden State to win. This
is a really good matchup for them. But keep your
eye on the Warriors because this Jonathan kaminga situation. Very
(33:17):
interested to see if he plays. Not playing him Sunday
is kind of a signal that hey, NBA, he's available.
And they were really hoping when they got Butler and
got Hot that he would be the next piece. But
it's not working. All right, We'll see you tomorrow. It's
the herb
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three eastern nine am to noon 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 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Interesting, I said yesterday, people got really worked up over it,
and I understand this. We had our first college football
holdout with Nico Iamaliava, a really talented kid. He was
number two I think in his recruiting class to arch
Manning Tall moves got a whip. You know, he's young,
needs to be refined. And so basically Tennessee said, listen, kid,
(00:45):
we paid a two point five million a red shirt,
weren't you know? I know it's easy to blame the kid,
But when people get leverage employees, and that's what college
football players are, people use it. And I'm blame the
NCAA for playing catch up on this nil and transfer
portal for four years. First of all, let's start with this,
(01:07):
because let's spend some time on this. What was your
initial reaction? What were you mad at or who who
was to blame here?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
The void, the void in a lack of enforcement, that's
that's who to blame. I think it's it's really easy
to just immediately jump on Niko Yamalayava. I think it's
easy to take Tennessee's side right away. And I'm not
saying that that he's right and they're wrong. I just
think that what's what's what's bigger than this situation is
(01:41):
this void of enforcement, and the that void is what
has created this problem. It's it's it's eerily similar, by
the way, eerily similar to do you remember after the
ninety four baseball strike, Colin and Baseball turned a blind
eye to the steroid era, yep, because it brought the
fans back. And then all of a sudden it was
(02:03):
a problem, you know, And and the NCAAA basically, you know,
abdicated their responsibility to govern the sport. And to be
fair to them, they were forced into that situation because
of you know, litigation, and the courts basically told them
they had no jurisdiction. What with no jurisdiction, there are
(02:23):
there are no ways to enforce rules. Once there's no
way to enforce rules. Now it is it's a total
free for all. What's what's fascinating in this instance is
that part of his recruitment, Nico's recruitment was brought as
an infraction to the NCAAA, and Tennessee fought it tooth
and nail and actually sued the NCAAA, and and that
(02:48):
lawsuit is what led to almost directly a memo being
sent to the member institutions of the NCAAA that said, verbatim, basically,
we no longer will enforce anything around in il. So
Tennessee created the vacuum and is now crying foul when
that vacuum is being exploited by one of the players
(03:09):
that play on their team. That's so, that's just like
a little bit of a like a backstory, which I
think is fascinating. And again this is not he's right
there wrong. This is more about the fact that there's
very little rules, there's very little enforcement, if any, and
that's really the problem here. These are growing pains for
what will eventually be a system that has a better
(03:31):
system of guardrails and rules that everyone agrees upon basically
mutually agreed upon rules between the players and the stakeholders
that then they can move forward with and then not
the last thing. But I do want to finish with
this on this answer. It's never exactly what we're hearing Colin.
This is I do not believe that Niko Iamalava walked
(03:57):
out on a Friday because he wanted a million and
a half more dollars. I don't think that that's the case.
I think that there's more at play. I have heard
that he and his people wanted the offense to grow
and change a little bit, because that offense, in its inception,
that's the Art Briles old Baylor offense, and no quarterback
(04:19):
has really succeeded going from that offense to the National
Football League's. And we see this by the way in
big moments that Tennessee has in big games, is that
their passing attack, which is so prolific at times, really
goes away. And we saw that, you know, even back
with Hindon Hooker and others, And so he wanted it
(04:39):
to grow and to change, and through spring football apparently
that didn't. I think he's also being given some bad
advice by people around him. So there's a lot at
play here, and I don't think it's just this narrative
that it's one greedy player and he held out for
this specific amount and then this school, and good for them.
They said, No, I don't think that that's the entire story.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, for the record, let me just throw it out here.
If he's the top free agent now, Lincoln Riley's got
a good roster, his best that are okay at quarterback?
What about USC? He's a California kid. Jordan mentioned this.
Ucla didn't have the money, Tulane's not going to do it.
Texas has their quarterback. I don't know. I look at this.
(05:23):
USC's nil now is close to eighteen million. Oregon doesn't
want him. I think USC makes sense to my wrong.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I don't think that you're wrong at all. I could
see him back on the West Coast, I would I
would think that he wants to be in the Big ten,
I would think, but I think he could wind up
somewhere else. I think UNC is interesting. North Carolina. That's
that's just to keep your eye on that.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
He's a lot. It's a lot for but I don't
know if North Carolina's got four million for one guy ununderstandable.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
But I just keep an eye on it, is all
I would say. I don't think that that I would predicted.
The LA schools make a lot of sense. Now. I
have heard that there has been a huge, quiet influx
of UCLA money. That's all. So I'm not going to
(06:15):
be shocked if he winds up at UCLA.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I would be, But that's interesting. I like that, all right,
draft is what we got nine days away or something
from the draft. And I saw a story today the Giants,
we're flying the Boulder. We want more and more. Look
at Shador Sanders. In my take is you don't want
Shendon Sanders. You want to send the message that you
(06:42):
want him because you want the Saints to move up
and give you picks, because if you liked him, you
wouldn't assigned. You know, Russell Wilson and Jamis Winston. What
are you hearing? You know, as somebody that's been at Colorado,
what's your guests on Shador Sanders? I hear Saints nine,
Steelers twenty one. Where do you think he goes? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I think that the Saints are are really in play.
Here's the interesting part about the because you bring up
New York, but I want to I want to lump
them in with Cleveland for a moment. Okay, like they
each need a quarterback, wouldn't you agree, Like they've got
to come away with a quarterback in their first two picks.
(07:21):
If they each pass on Shadoor and then he does
get taken by either New Orleans or Pittsburgh, then that
leaves those two picks early in the second round where
they're fighting over Jackson Dart maybe and they're having to
trade maybe back into the first round in order to
pass one one or the other in order to get
Jackson Dart. So I think it really comes down to
(07:45):
for Cleveland and for New York, like this evaluation of
where do you have Shador in relation to Jackson Dart,
And that's the evaluation that's going to matter.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Now.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
I happen to have Shador quite a bit above of
Jackson Dark.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I'm thrower the football absolutely, of.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Course, of course, and he ran a much more pro
oriented offense. And what I mean by that is is
post snap decision making and discernment versus pre snap wins
that then you exploit. You know, Lane does a great
job offensively, but a lot of that is pre snap wins.
You're leveraging an area of the defense and everybody knows
where the ball is going before the snap of the football.
(08:26):
That wasn't the case with Colorado. Now it led to
a lot of sacks obviously, which you can't question Shootoor's toughness,
but man, he's very accurate and he definitely operated in
an NFL system post snap, as opposed to maybe some
of the other guys in this draft. So the other
thing that I'll say is is this is not like
even remotely the first time. The Sanders camp and the
(08:52):
Giants camp have spent a lot of time together. And
I'm talking way before the draft process. I'm talking during
the fall. They spent a lot of time and there
was a bit of a feeling out process both directions,
and there was a feeling in the fall that the
(09:13):
Sanders camp wanted to sign off on Okay, yeah, I
think we would be good going to New York. So
I think that there's probably a little bit more smoke
to this than people realize. I don't think that New
York is just sending a message to New Orleans. I
think that there's a real opportunity and possibility that they
(09:37):
select him there in the top five.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
in Noone Easter nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah, I got to tell you. I generally I always
said this. If you wanted to win arguments at a
sports bar, always say I don't think they take me
with you. I agree, just say when it comes to
quarterbacks in the draft, I don't think he's as good
as they where he got drafted, Shadure is the very
because most of these guys are never I mean I
(10:09):
can go to Trevor Lawrence. Most of them just aren't
as good as you think. Almost all of them are,
you know, a little overdrafted. I thought the.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Need outpaces the ability almost every single time. Because the
need is so great.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I find myself I'm the opposite with Shador Sanders. First
of all, he is bigger in person than you think.
There's multiple pieces of video him standing in pre or
postgame next to normal sized humans like you and I.
He is a big kid. He is super accurate. He
can take a hit. He got sacked like Garret goffin college,
(10:47):
just got ragdall. And by the way, he's had money.
His dad's dion, so it's not like he's gonna blow it.
He is the rare player I think is better at
his position than the league. I think the leagues get
you know what I think is happening. The league doesn't
quite know what to do with social media. So now
players can say something goofy on the platform and now
(11:10):
they get paid, and I think it turns off a
lot of NFL front office guys. You know Caleb Williams's
fingernails and he jumped into the crowd. All this stuff
was mostly happening, you know, a lot of his social stuff.
You just didn't see it, and now you see it,
and it's freaking people out. I don't know Shador, but
his personality doesn't bother me, and I think it does.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
I mean, I've spent time around him, and I can
tell you like he's about football.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yes, he.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Has a deep desire to be great. And that's that's rare,
more rare than you would think.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Let me put it to you this way. There are
guys that love football and there are guys that love
being football players. Chador, as much as it looks like
he loves the attention and being a football player, he
loves football and has a deep desire to be great
and believes that he will be, which which again is
also rare. Two things that you cannot question at all,
(12:14):
really three, but two his toughness. You already mentioned that
he is as tough as they come.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
He Jared Goff. That was one of the things. He
and Jared Goff just got crushed for two years, the
last two years of college and don't get hurt.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
That's right. And he stay stayed in there, and he
hung in there, And then you cannot question his accuracy.
He is lethal. He can put the football in a
shoe box really anywhere on the field, mostly inside the numbers.
Not quite as strong of an arm as cam Ward,
who has the ability to really stretch and attack every
blade of grass. But man, those are two things that
(12:52):
you can't question. And then you can't question the offense
that he came out of. In terms of what I
was talking about a little bit earlier, this idea of
post snap decision making and post control of the field,
and he certainly has that. I agree with you, Listen,
I've been a huge believer in him. There's also this
element and I've preached this on your show and several others.
(13:12):
But Colin, I've told you how bad Colorado was before
they got there, and everybody immediately talks about the coach
Prime effect or the Travis Hunter effect. What took them
from one win to nine wins was, yes, those guys,
but mainly it was Shadoor. It was the fact that
he was a great quarterback. And so now he's going
to go into a situation where he's going to be
asked to take a program again that is not where
(13:36):
it needs to be, an organization that's not where it
needs to be, and he's going to be asked to
elevate the entire organization. He's already done that once, and
that's not the case all the time in this process.
Remember when we're evaluating these guys, most of the time,
we're taking quarterbacks that had the best players in college
football around them, the best team around them, the most
resources around them, and played inferior competition. And now we're
(14:00):
trying to evaluate that player as it relates to a
league in which he's not going to have those things.
At least with Shador, we can have an apples to
apples discussion about what he did with lesser resources against
better competition, just like he's going to be asked to
do in the National Football League.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
I want to end with this, so I asked Nick Wright,
and I said this earlier is that I do believe
international players can be the face of leagues. Connor McGregor, UFC, MESSI, MLS,
Shoheo Tani baseball. It's all about American likes winners. And
when Rory elected to stay with a PGA tour, which
(14:39):
I never I defended all the guys that went live.
I had no problem with it because golf was a charity.
It didn't run the Masters or British Open, my two
favorite tournaments. So you know, our government has relationships with
the Saudis. I don't blame a golfer, but there is
some value in retaining that PGA connection. And when Rory
won Sunday, I'm like, he's the face of golf because
(15:02):
he makes me feel like Tiger Woods made me feel
at the US Open with rock O Mediate when I
was no longer in the media, I was a fanboy.
I was just a fan. I gave up my journalism,
cred what little I have, and I'm sitting there with
Rory and I'm like, yeah, I'm rooting. I'm a fan.
It's over. I don't I'm not anti Bryson. What did
(15:22):
you make as somebody who loves golf, knows golf, what
did you make of that four and a half hours
of television?
Speaker 3 (15:29):
It was incredible television. I mean I was so locked in.
I would have been anyways, but man like, it was dramatic.
There were wild swings every direction. You know, McElroy is down,
he's up, Deshambo's up, He's down, Roses back, you know,
(15:49):
Oberg is. I mean, it's it was riveting television. Now
this is a little bit different than the direction you
want to take this. Do you know what I ultimately
came away with on Sunday As a guy who really
loves the sport. I really do love golf.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
One.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
I love watching history, and we saw history with him
winning the Grand Slam, and you saw that in the
emotion as he made that final putt. But the other
thought was Colin. It made me, in hindsight, appreciate Tiger
Woods even more because as amazing as that was, to
watch the ebbs and flows, go back on YouTube and
(16:30):
watch even in twenty nineteen, which Tiger is a shell
of what he was in his prime, and watch his
back nine. It's surgical. He doesn't hit gap wedges into
the bunker, you know, like he doesn't dump an eighty
yard shot into Ray's Creek on thirteen. The ball hits
the correct spot on the green every single time. And
(16:52):
so we're watching this guy who's a generational talent, the
face of the PGA tour, fall all over himself and
finally get to the line he's he's just stumbling and
stumbling and just gets his nose across. And I'm thinking
back to those those moments, and I'm like, that's why
Tiger was the greatest of all times because he never
did that to us. He was a stone cold assassin,
(17:14):
and and that's what I That was my takeaway. I
was more impressed with Tiger Woods after that watching Roy
McElroy win the Masters that I've ever been.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
You know, there's only two athletes in my life, Michael
Jordan and Tiger that were always at their best in
the biggest moments. Muhammada Muhammad Ali lost fights that he
was a favorite. Ronaldo and Messi have lost matches, they're
the favorite. Rory Phil Lebron have lost finals where now
(17:42):
Lebron's often been the underdog. But there's only two athletes.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
And even Brady. As great as Brady was, he lost
as an undefeated.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
I mean it's like Tiger and MJ were in my lifetime.
Going back to Allie who lost to Fraser once Ken Norton,
I mean there were fights he was supposed to win.
He lost. Only two guys that were every time. And
by the way, both built different. I mean, like there's intense,
then there's MJ and Tiger like theirs skin. It's funny,
(18:13):
you know what. Another takeaway I had is that when
I when I used to watch Tiger on the tour,
he didn't look like a golfer. He looked like and Reid.
He looked like a Rover, a safety right like he
was the first guy he was. He was what they
call flat belly. A golf you to have guys in
bad pants who are a little heavy, and then you
look at Tiger. Now you watch these got Rory's cut,
the shambo is a middle linebacker Brooks Kepcauz big. That's
(18:37):
the influence of Tiger is that Tiger's like, oh yeah, yeah,
this is a marathon, this is this is a fight.
You got to be in great shape, and god, it
was good TV.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
It was it was great. It was great. Like I said,
I love history watching him bogie that eighteenth hole.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I was.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
It was just It's like I thought there was no
chance he was winning. And by the way, by the way,
Justin Rose made ten birdies on Sunday. The fact that
he didn't win is gonna bury what I think could
be maybe the greatest Sunday round in Masters history, ten birdies.
(19:22):
Gary Player didn't make ten birdies when he won with
a sixty four, like ten birdies didn't win.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
I had nine when I played Saturday, So he topped.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Is that right? Is that right? You were just you
were like you were an assassin like Tiger, just middle
of the green, dropping putts.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
I get into that zone with my five wood, you know,
all right, nobody hits a fair way wood. Who am
I kidding? Joel Klapp, I'm gonna see it, buddy. As always,
you two, buddy, have a good day, all right? Heard
line news around the corner alive at Lanced.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays
in noon Easter nine am Pacific.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David, and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
You could catch us.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
Weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to four
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the iHeartRadio app.
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich. We talk
about everything life, sports, relationships, what's.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Going on in the world.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
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. And the fact that we've been friends
for the last twenty years and still work together. I
mean that says something, right, So check us out. We
like to get you involved too, take your phone calls,
chop it up. As they say, I'd say, the most
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(20:41):
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Speaker 7 (20:42):
Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on
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Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on
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Speaker 1 (20:58):
Good stuff on a Tuesday. Here's with the news.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
This is the herd Line News all right, calling the
NFL kicks off. The NFL Draft kicks off next Thursday,
and there has been a consensus that the quarterback class
is lacking day one starter. But don't tell that to
Seahawks GM John Schneider, who pushed back on that notion
in a recent radio appearance.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
I think it's it depends on the team how they
view the player of the quarterback again, how you're gonna
acquire them, where you're gonna acquire them, But you know,
bring him through the building is another. It's it's just
it's really about, Okay, more time. We need more answers,
we need more time with this player based on the
questions that we need answered in terms of the vision
(21:44):
we see for this player on the fit. It's not
necessarily like that's it's it's separate from how you can
acquire the player.
Speaker 6 (21:50):
On draft weekend, Colin I reported earlier that dal Dalen
Milroe he's visiting Seattle today. Yeah, and I bring him
up because he's a mobile quarterback and under the John
Schneider era in Seattle, he's only drafted two quarterbacks, including
Russell Wilson. That was the big one that hit. Could
you see a guy like Jalen Milroe in Seattle, and
(22:12):
when would Seattle potentially need a quarterback in this draft?
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Well, I thought they should have gone last year for Pennix.
That was my take. I didn't like there were two patient.
I think Milroe would be good for them because, like Darnold,
he's a mover, so you wouldn't have to change the
offense significantly if Sam gets two good years and by
Thanksgiving of Milroe's second year he's playing. He's a remarkable
(22:36):
athlete and a hard working, great kid. He's a bit mechanical,
so my comp for him is a much much. I
don't see Lamar Jackson, who's more fluid as an athlete.
I don't see Lamar Jackson at all. Lamar was oh
as sinewy, moved well, very fluid, very beautifully fluid athlete.
Anthony Richardson is a bit more mechanical. Jalen's very mechanical,
(22:59):
but unlike Richardson, he has streaks of accuracy. He throws
up really pretty accurate deep ball. But he is one
of those he's transitioning from. I mean, Jalen with a
shirt off at Combine looks like a Mike linebacker shirt like.
He is a great athlete, So I think you have
to be totally patient. He's very much about where he lands.
(23:21):
If Anthony Richardson had not played yet and this was
his first time playing this year, it may be a
different version. But we've seen all those mistakes and what
happens when you have to play early and you're not ready.
You lose people in the front office, you lose the
locker room. Guys want to win and you don't. So
if Jalen could come in and just sit for two years,
that's his best course to succeed.
Speaker 6 (23:42):
Yeah, and we've seen a lot of quarterbacks Jalen hurts
guys that have come in and not played right away
and then had success. You mentioned Richardson. See, I would
wonder if his lack of success his first two years
in Indie hurts someone like Milroe, who probably isn't ready
to play right now, needs a year maybe two. Does
that hurt someone like him because you see, okay, this
(24:03):
is not a path to success now.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Guy, I I don't know. I have a hard time
not drafting a player because a player from the same
school at mess to come.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Yeah, I don't Yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Just to Anthony Richardson played thirteen college games, and at
best he was a risky pick.
Speaker 6 (24:23):
Yeah, and they took him forth.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah he was a at best. You know, remember Indy
got trapped because Andrew Luck retired and then Ersay got
impulsive and said Carson Wentz get out of here. So
the Colts Chris Ballard has basically been bailing water at
quarterback for multiple years. None of it his fault, so
they they were forced into an anthony. Chris Ballard would
have never picked him there if he could have had
(24:47):
still Carson Wentz or Philip Rivers, you know.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
And you mentioned her say too. Last point I'll make
is some of these franchises and this year's draft, for example,
Cleveland has them Giants, Mara, you wonder how much the
owner will be involved when it comes to quarter That's
something really monitor And we just heard Oklatt say that
the Giants had done a lot of work on son
Or Sanders dating back to October. So you would think,
as to your point, they already know who he is.
(25:11):
You know, there's no real reason to go to Boulder
unless you really feel like there's a smoke screen, which
is what you're what you've been saying. The Bears have
made some moves this offseason, headlined by bringing in Ben Johnson.
Another edition was former Rams gard Jonah Jackson, who had
an injury plague season, missing thirteen games. Jonah Jackson talked
about how Chicago is a great place for him to
(25:33):
revitalize his career, saying quote, all that matters is how
you bounce back. I'm excited to get back to it,
string a full season together and get a damn ring.
It's worth noting that Chicago has made a lot of
upgrades on their offensive line, including Drew Dolman, the center
from Atlanta. The Bears have not won a playoff game
since twenty ten. I thought the Ben Johnson hire was
the perfect hire. I also recognized that this roster, although improved,
(25:57):
is still probably a year away. But I do think
they have a chance to win nineteen. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
I don't think the rosters a year away from anything.
I think it's a really good roster. I mean, if
you gave me their ten best players and I went,
you know, Kayleb Williams is somewhere in there, sweat, Jalen Johnson,
DJ Moore, Junees a year two, Dolman, Joe Tooney, no,
Cole Comett. You get to about seven or eight players.
(26:22):
They're all good. This is not Carolina's roster. You've got
seven or eight. I mean Keenan Allen would be like nine.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
The problem is that division Green Bay Detroit.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
I don't think it's I don't think it's a talent issue.
I said this about Denver when Sean Payton took it over.
They had Garrett Bowles, they had Courtland Sutton, they had
a good rush end from Oklahoma. They had a running
back I like that, had a safety I love, they
had the best corner in the game. They had linebackers
that ran well. It's like Sean Payton just had to
get quarterback right, and it's like, oh, they're a playoff team.
(26:55):
Chicago's roster is very much like Denver. If they can
get the quarterback, you can make the playoffs. With the
Bears roster. This is not a rebuild. This is a
good roster.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
Yeah. He also Ben Johnson also brought a lot of
his staff from Detroit. There'll be a lot of I
think synergy there already, which is sometimes hard for a
first year head coach that doesn't have the staff in place.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Joe Tooney's a top three guards. They got him. Drew
Dolman's a top five center. They got him. Yeah, so,
I mean, and they love their right tackle, so it's
like three of their five ozer linemen are elite they
really like.
Speaker 6 (27:28):
So really, it just comes down of the quarterback, and
there's no reason to believe he won't be significantly.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
And what if they get Ashton Gent Then all of
a sudden, the running back room is like, wow, okay,
because the tight end room's good receiver, room's good coach.
Offensively is clever, all lines fixed. The Bears issue is
they have been so Pittsburgh. Their whole identity has always
been defense, for sure, and you know the Packers, over
the last thirty years, their identity has been offense. Look
(27:54):
who's still winning. So the league pivoted to offense. The Bears,
to their credit with higher in this offseason, have said, Okay,
we don't want to be distigree. Let's go spend money
on offense. Let's go get cheap and draft defense.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (28:07):
I agree, speaking of defense, maybe offense. Travis Hunter easily
one of the most intriguing draft prospects in recent memory
due to his two way ability. Now, Hunter has met
with many teams in the lead up to the draft calling,
all of which haven't had any issues with him playing
on both sides of the ball. However, Hunter made it
very clear that if a team did tell him to
(28:28):
pick just one position, he said, he'd rather quote never
play football again. Now, I think I think the NFL
is looking at this wrong. I think Travis Hunter is
shoey Otani. If I told you Colin you could have
shoe Otani, would you be interested in him? Yes, Travis Hunter.
He played seven hundred and fifty three snaps on offense
(28:51):
eighty seven percent and over eighty three percent on defense.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
He can do it. Now.
Speaker 6 (28:56):
I don't know if that means he can do both
all the time, but the fact that he is so smart,
so gifted, and so special, and the fact that this
is Keith Dion already said the time in between plays
isn't really an issue. And you get more time thirty
six seconds in the NFL compared to thirty two in college.
He'll have more time to adjust. I just think, Travis Hunter,
(29:16):
if we're really looking at him as a generational prospect,
which he is on both sides of the ball, then
not only should he be in contention to be the
number one overall pick, but we should be looking at
him like a future all pro.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Well. I think in twenty twenty five I would put
him on offense and then I would use him on defense,
but I would make him a centerpiece offensively. He is long, fast, athletic,
incredible catching radius. I just think in today's game, get
him to the offensive side, get him sixty five snaps
if I get him twenty eight snaps on defense. And
(29:51):
by the way, anybody that gets him at the top
of the draft's a bad team. If you want to
play him a hundred snaps, go for it. But I
do think going forward there's a lot more money catching
the ball than defending it.
Speaker 6 (30:03):
Sure, yeah, but I just think if he wants to
do it, and you've seen the tape that he can,
then he should be given the opportunity. I don't know
how many.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Happy the employees are better employees. Let him play both.
Speaker 6 (30:15):
Yeah, especially if he's in a bad team and he
can really learn both, because it's going to help him
playing both positions. You know, it'll help him understand it
to the NBA where the playoffs tip off tonight. In
the play in game, Yeah, talked a lot about this
Hawk's Magic, Grizzlies, Warriors. Odds makers have given the Thunder
a slight edge over the Celts to win the Lary
O'Brian plus one eighty, Boston just behind them plus one ninety.
(30:41):
Here's the rest of the top five. So goes Thunder, Celtics, Calves, Lakers, Warriors,
Warriors plus fifteen hundred. The public's betting favorite are the
Lakers plus thirteen hundred. Where do you stand?
Speaker 1 (30:54):
I would put the Celtics ahead of the Thunder. I'd
go Celtics, Celtics, Lakers, Thunder, Calves, Calves fourth only because
Warriors are too high. Calves fourth only because they have
to face the Celtics should be number one. We're undervaluing
how deep and good they are. They have nine guys
(31:16):
who can shoot, pass and hit a three. Nobody in
the league can match that, So Celtics should be number one.
Put them in any order after that. I do think
we're overvaluing the Clippers late regular season surge, and we're
undervaluing how good the Lakers three headed playmaker Luca Austin
(31:37):
Lebron is in the plass. You get into playoff games
and it's one oh four each three and a half
to go. Nobody except Boston in this league has three
guys who you trust to take a shot except the Lakers.
I think the Lakers offensively are and again I'm not
counting Ruey from the corner. Jackson Hayes kind of a
pogo stick, you know, Ali, you guy, I think the
(31:59):
Lakers are. They're not a great defensive team, but I
you know, Denver won a title several years ago and
it was middle of the pack bench and defense, So
I don't think that's the be all end all.
Speaker 6 (32:08):
Yeah, you The only way to do it in Denver,
by the way, is plus three thousand, is if you
have a truly transcendent player. The Lakers have.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Two of them.
Speaker 6 (32:15):
So even though they don't have that necessarily big you
mentioned Jackson eighty's blot some shots, the fact that they
have two three closers is pretty significant.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Jordan with the news, Well that's the news, and thanks
for stopping by the Herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Good show today. Nick Wright was, as usual, very entertaining.
Joel Klatt stopped by as well. Yeah, good show today.
Nick Wright's around the corner the Warriors tonight. They're seven
point favorites. They got actually a very fortuitous matchup. Memphis
is a team that's talented, but young and not always
(32:53):
trustable in big spot, so the Warriors, and it depends
on the night. They're not always a wildly dynamic team.
Buddy Heeled and stephf are both hitting threes. Watch out.
But I like the Warriors tonight. I'm not sure how
close it is. I like Golden State to win. This
is a really good matchup for them. But keep your
eye on the Warriors because this Jonathan kaminga situation. Very
(33:17):
interested to see if he plays. Not playing him Sunday
is kind of a signal that hey, NBA, he's available.
And they were really hoping when they got Butler and
got Hot that he would be the next piece. But
it's not working. All right, We'll see you tomorrow. It's
the herb
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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