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July 22, 2025 • 31 mins

Colin talks to NFL reporter Dianna Russini about the Browns QB situation, what to expect for the Bears, Nick Saban's future, and more

 

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
NFL camps starting up. Yep, you see there on the screen,
Penn State head coach James Franklin, my pick to play
for the National Championship against Texas. Diana Russini, the athletic
haven't seen her in a while. NFL camps underway starting
right now. Let's bring Diana in. Covered the NFL for
now ten years. So let me start with this. And

(00:52):
it was a self created story a little bit. But
Lane Kiffin and Greg McElroy, two people I trust, said,
I mean people that are very well connected in the SEC,
said Saban. Back to coaching is not off the table.
So I don't think it's college just because of the
NIL and schools now are raising so much money for
players they can't pay the fire staffs and rehire Saban.

(01:13):
But when you hear Saban in the NFL. I mean, Diana,
there's six openings a year. Coordinators are a coin flip.
College coaches aren't getting chances now because NFL teams don't
want to buy them out of their NIL deals. What
about Saban? NFL? Does it make sense to you. No,
it's true.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
You're hearing college coaches trying to get out. Bill Belichick
was trying to get in. You talked to the jets
of all teams last year just to get back into
the NFL. You know, Look, you get a varied of
opinions here in terms of what Nick Saban really wants
to do, even just talking to some people once that
came out. Now, look, I love Greg McElroy. He's a
good friend of mine Lane Kiff, and I think he

(01:50):
may have spoken without any knowledge. I think he just
understands that coach loves to coach, and it's hard to
imagine that he wants to just continue to do television
and when most of these guys were just built to
be teachers, and that's what Nick Saban truly is.

Speaker 4 (02:05):
But I had one head.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Coach saying to me this morning when we were talking
about this, he said, here's the problem. I think there's
just such a bad taste left in Saban's mouth no
matter how you look at it. He said, so much
success at Alabama. That's a program that just pumps out
good player after good player. They built something great and
that just doesn't translate in the NFL. And Saban figured
that out when he went to Miami. He obviously had
experience on the college level at a high level at

(02:28):
LSU in Michigan State and then wound up going back
to Alabama.

Speaker 4 (02:32):
But it's such a different type of.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
Game, you know, whereas I touch a general manager who's like,
I could see Nick Saban having tons of success if
he wanted to do it. But I get to speak
to anyone in the NFL who's like, you know who
you should keep an eye on this season, next save
and I could see him hopping in this.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
I think he likes his gig.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, you know it's I look around and last year
Jason said before the season, Chicago will be the most
interesting team, and they were, but it was mostly based
on dysfunction and a coach in the hot seat. And
I look at them now and I'm like, I don't
see a lot of dysfunction. I mean, the family, there's

(03:12):
a lot of kids in the family. It's one of
the poor older ownership groups. But I kind of look
at the Bears and I think Nick Wright came on
earlier and said, if there's one great team that could
potentially drop, it's Detroit because they lost both great coordinators.
In your visits with people around the league and this
is gossip season, this is fun season. How do people
truly feel about Chicago off Mike when they're talking to

(03:36):
Diana Russini, it's not going anywhere. It's our people intrigued.
Are other teams intrigued by Chicago and Ben and Caleb?

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Yeah, they certainly are intrigued, And I feel like most
are seeing Chicago as this isn't going to be in
apples to Apple's offense, where what we saw in Detroit
with Jery Goff under Ben Johnson is going to be
what the Chicago Bears are going to be with Caleb Williams.
I think on paper, that sounds great and that was
the idea in Chicago saw that in Detroit, which is

(04:05):
why Ben Johnson was one of their top candidates of
this is what we need, this is what Caleb needs
to develop to take that next step. But it's very
fair for us to say here that Caleb is very talented,
but he still needs a lot of coaching, right, And
that's where Ben Johnson's going to step in here, and
he really has his hands full.

Speaker 4 (04:23):
He's because he's got a lot of work to do.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
So for me, I think the question is going to
be can Caleb Williams digest as much of the playbook
as we saw Jared Goff do with Detroit.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
I just think it's going to take a while.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
You know, this is a team that really was built
in the offseason and under Ben Johnson here from the
inside out.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
I'm not worried about the run game of the year.
I think that's where they'll do well.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
But it's really going to be that the passing, that
development in the pocket of Caleb Williams, that's going to
be the true test.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
And look, they gave him an offensive line.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
Every year we talk about Chicago's got to get better
up front, They got to get better. Now they're going
to be able to protect Caleb and we're going to
be able to see what they can really do. So
I tend to believe, and even just from the conversations
I have with people during the off season, while they're
on the beach with their families driving in traffic. Most
believed that the Chicago Bears are going to take a
step forward. You know, And this isn't me having conversations

(05:18):
with your new colleague, big Cat telling me this.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
This is actual people that coach football.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Let me ask you, In all the years I've been
doing this, I don't think there's ever been a bigger
gap in how talking heads me saw player shaud Or
Sanders and how the league saw it. Because I don't
think he went from first to the fifth round just
based on you know, I mean, Dion didn't do him

(05:43):
any favors. You know, we're not going to play for
this team, this team, this team. While he was talking
directly to the bad teams that we're going to draft him.
It wasn't talking about the Chiefs, the Ravens, the Bills
and the Lions, right, he was we're not going here
here here, Well, you're talking to the people that could
employ you. So I don't think that helped. And so
maybe I was just they've been caught up in the
whole Dion should or thing expectations. Mary kay cabot I trush.

(06:06):
She says, yeah, he's got a shot, he'll be in
the running to play. What do you think? What do
you hear? Were we in the media just a little
hyper bollock on how good he was because to drop
to the fifth rounds, that's a non starter in the NFL,
that's a backup quarterback round.

Speaker 4 (06:25):
Yeah, I think we were excited. I think everyone was.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
I was on the show with you talking about him
a lot as well, where we thought maybe there's some
star potential here that was possibly masking the ability and
all those things that are important not just on the field,
but when you're in the locker room, when you're in
these meeting rooms, things that a lot of these organizations
prioritize that I think in some of these visits, in

(06:49):
some of these meetings, you know, they just didn't go
as well as I think from the outside those hopes
it would.

Speaker 4 (06:58):
So what's this going to look.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Like in Cleveland right under Kevin Stefanski. Look, I think
we've been doing this a long time. We kind of
know how this works, right. So Joe Flacco's been in
Stefanski's system before. We know he's a veteran, he's smart
as heck. He understands what Kevin wants. So he's going
to get all the first team reps. He's gonna get
a majority of it, and we're going to see him

(07:19):
probably take the biggest step in terms of being the
starter this year for the Cleveland Browns. Right, But then
you've got three other players here that they've got to
split these reps up with. So I do think the
good news for someone like you who I think wants
to see Shador, we're going to see him.

Speaker 4 (07:34):
We'll see a lot of him this summer.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Because I don't envision Kevin Stefanski throwing Joe Flacco out there,
you know, for preseason game one and two. I don't
think he cares. I think he knows what Joe can do.
So I think this is going to give us an opportunity.
I just think I can tell you just based on
what the Browns did and where they drafted Shador, we
know where he stands. The excitement's always going to be

(07:57):
around him, but the reality's going to hit us here.
And at this point it's Picket Gabriel and then Shaudre
and then Deshaun who you know, he's out his honey.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
I don't know where he is, but he's somewhere he'll
be there.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
You know.

Speaker 4 (08:10):
That's pretty much the situation there.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
So we'll see we're gonna get a lot of answers
this summer. But again, he's not going to have the
advantage of these reps, and we got to keep that
in mind when we do see him out there because
the majority of those are going to go to the
players that were either drafted higher or signed in free agency.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
Finally, you're close to the Philadelphia Eagles where you're based.
They're Super Bowl champs? Are you? Is that the Is
that the first camp you're going to getting the red
carpet treatment?

Speaker 4 (08:38):
That'll be the day.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
This is what happens when you win, you turn your
back on those that are loyal to you. Uh no,
you know what it's I'm actually far from Philly. I'm
closer to the Jets and the Giants. Like from my location,
that's where the red carpet treatment comes, especially at the Jets.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
You know they love me there.

Speaker 5 (08:55):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (08:55):
Now the Philadelphia he goes.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Look, I am intrigued by them simply because again I
see it every year.

Speaker 4 (09:03):
We see it every year.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
It is hard to win back to back and it
is hard to come off a top the championship that
they just did and the way they celebrate and all
the love that they got, the good old saying of
you know, Martinez are like success, they relax you you know, now,
do I think Seguon Barkley is gonna chill out in
no way? And he's just not built like that. And
if you follow on on Instagram, I don't think he

(09:26):
took a day off. So I'm curious to see how
the Eagles are going to come back this year, knowing
that they just they have this victory.

Speaker 4 (09:35):
But I'm off to Denver and Colin. I hope we're
gonna be on.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
The show a lot this season talking about them because
I've got some high hopes for them. This is a
defense that front five. They are underrated. This is a
monster group. And I know we talk about Sean Payton's
offenses all the time, and you know, we'll get there
in a second. But when I think about the Denver
Broncos and the strength of this team, it's their defense.

(10:01):
The last two seasons they've been able to carry them.
And now with the experience and I say experienced Bo
Nicks because we know how much he played in college.
You know, we're not talking about like a JJ McCarthy. Here,
we're talking about a second year quarterback. He's got tons
of playtime, has understood the Sean Payton language, the playbook.
I think we're going to see a big step taken

(10:22):
forward here. And by the way, he's got Edvan Ingram right,
And I say Evan Ingram and you think, like, Okay,
big deal. Davis Webb is the quarterback coach in Denver. Okay,
Davis Webb played with Evan Ingram and there is a
big reason why Ingram is there in Denver, and it's
because Davis Webb was able to sell to Sean Payton
what Ingram could do for bon Nicks and how he

(10:42):
could play that joker and really be another option outside
Courtland Sutton for bo Nicks. So I just think this
is one of those teams that they took a step forward. Yes,
it's the Sean Payton effect, but this is where we're
going to really see a team contending, and I think
that division knows it.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
Diana Russini, senior NFL insider of the Athletic. It's great scene.
You kind of I'm kind of bummed.

Speaker 4 (11:08):
In and mentioned my tan.

Speaker 6 (11:10):
You work hard on it.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
It did well, I look at you as such a journalist.
I don't want to get caught up and do appearance.

Speaker 4 (11:19):
You just you just forget it all. Here's the thing.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
I wear SPS fifty five zero, and it's like my
skin just like it's just drawn to the sud.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
I tried.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
I try not to because my thought is who wants
to see someone tan on TV? Because if I'm watching
me right now, I'm thinking this girl doesn't work, she says,
by the pool all day.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
But I'm working.

Speaker 4 (11:37):
I swear, I'm just working with sunscreen on.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Will wear a sweater that's way up there on the chain. Grace.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
Let's not talk football whether yet. It was great to
see you.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
I'll see you soon, all right. I don't know why
I don't. I really don't know why. I'm so fascinated.
Cleveland's probably the worst team in the league. They got
five quarterbacks, none in their prime and none good. Am
I so fascinated with that story. It's weird. I'm really
really interested in the Cleveland Browns quarterback situation. That's weird.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
One more Heard the Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you like.

Speaker 7 (12:19):
Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day
five to seven pm Eastern.

Speaker 8 (12:23):
But here's the thing.

Speaker 7 (12:24):
We never have enough time to get to everything we
want to get to.

Speaker 8 (12:27):
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called
over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in
our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly,
because this guy is over promising things we never have
time for. Yeah, you blubber lit lame in me.

Speaker 7 (12:42):
Well, you know what it's called over promise. You should
be good at it because you've been over promising women
for years.

Speaker 8 (12:46):
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show, and we
want you to be a part of it. We're gonna
be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk
life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing
about something or we didn't have enough time, it will
continue on our after show called over Promised.

Speaker 7 (13:00):
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make
sure you check out over Promise and also Uncensored, by
the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a
little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast
of all time.

Speaker 8 (13:10):
There you go, over promising, Remember you could see on YouTube,
but definitely join us. Listen over Promised with Cavino and
Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you
get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Jmackle the news, Turn.

Speaker 6 (13:25):
On the news, this is the herd Line News.

Speaker 5 (13:29):
Let's go to San Francisco or the Niners training camp
opened up for veterans today and all odds are on
Rock Party, who's gonna have his first action at camp
since getting his lucrative five year, two hundred and sixty
five million dollar extension.

Speaker 6 (13:47):
And as we are contractually obligated to do.

Speaker 5 (13:49):
Here is a screen shot Colin of the highest paid
quarterbacks per year, Rock Perty checking in one, two, three,
seventh right down, tied with Jared Goff, well behind Deck
Prescott and his no.

Speaker 6 (14:05):
Conference championships appearances. It's interesting.

Speaker 5 (14:10):
The producer for this segment said, so, like, what's an
expectation for Perty? He gets this huge deal and I
and I said, honestly, he has to win the Super
Bowl or Colin's gonna find a way to knock him down.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
A thing that's not true. No, that is true, Colin.

Speaker 6 (14:23):
Here's one Well, he has.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
To win the division. That's it.

Speaker 5 (14:27):
And then he loses in the first round of the
Packers and we're gonna take shots at No, you can't.

Speaker 6 (14:31):
That's not gonna work.

Speaker 5 (14:32):
Well, he looked lost in the Super Bowl des by
getting them a lead in overtime to the Chiefs at
Rock Perty couldn't get He got.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
To win a playoff game. If you're gonna get paid
fifty three million a year to be a quarterback, you
gotta win a playoff game. With Kyle Shanahan, that's fair
to say. I'm not saying you have to win two,
because you may get You may get the Eagles in
round two, you may get the Rams in round two.
I'm not saying you have to win two playoff games.
But at fifty three large, you gotta be a playoff
quarterback and you gotta win one playoff game.

Speaker 5 (14:59):
An So, okay, what does that mean for Justin Herbert?
What does that mean for Tua? What does that mean
for Trevor Lawrence? Joe Burrow hadn't even been to the
playoffs the last I believe the last two seasons, like
I mean, Dak Prescott, well like it, just we hold
Purty to a different standard and That's why I told him.
I was like, Purdy's got to win the Super Bowl.

Speaker 6 (15:19):
That's the only thing.

Speaker 5 (15:21):
That's gonna get people off his back. Lamar Jackson could
choke every year in the playoffs and it's like, ah,
Lamar lost, but he's a true time MVP. Like, Okay, well,
are you gonna say the same stuff about rock Perty
if they don't win the Super Bowl? So I just
feel like it's unfair and I will defend.

Speaker 6 (15:36):
The little guy. I am a man of the people.
I will back underdog rock Perty last pick.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
And though oh right, that's fun.

Speaker 5 (15:43):
Okay, you don't feel the same way, all right, Hey,
how about this one. NFL news Philip Rivers announced yesterday
he's retiring from the NFL as a Charger. Now, he
hasn't played football since twenty twenty, but he went on
social media and made the announcement.

Speaker 6 (16:00):
You can listen. I'm Philip Rivers quarterback and I'm retiring charger.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
But what I miss and what I'm most appreciative and
thankful for are those relationships they fired and.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
Do the things that were behind the scenes that just.

Speaker 6 (16:14):
Never got old.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
You know that never got old, Dank, I expect to
get thankful for the most sixteen years and for and
trusting me to be the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
And State never took it for granted. Oh keep fighting,
Just keep fighting.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
I never took it for granted, and didn't suit up
and leave the Chargers for shoot two hundred and forty
something games in a row.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
And that was emotional. Good career, very good.

Speaker 6 (16:45):
I got to ask the Hall of Famer or.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
No, probably not, you know it does. This is not baseball,
where it's just you know, six most passing yards and to.

Speaker 6 (16:57):
The history of football.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
You got to do well in January. Dak Prescott and
Philip Rivers have had nice careers. You got to do
well in January. Eli Manning, mostly a five hundred quarterback,
had two great playoff runs and beat Brady twice. He's
a Hall of Famer. It does matter. Baseball, it doesn't.
It doesn't matter if you Mike Trout's gonna be in
the Hall of Fame. I don't think you'd ever want
a playoff game, ever, doesn't matter. Football is different. January matters.

(17:22):
Basketball doesn't matter. Carmelo Anthony didn't do anything in the playoffs.
He's going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer.
Football January and February matter.

Speaker 6 (17:30):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (17:31):
So Rivers was never all pro, meaning he was never
like one or two in the league as quarterback. Well,
but he put up a lot of stats, right, he
was always durable.

Speaker 6 (17:41):
What do you like to say?

Speaker 5 (17:42):
The best ability is availability? I mean two hundred and
forty consecutive starts to finish his.

Speaker 6 (17:47):
Career, that's historic stuff.

Speaker 5 (17:50):
Four straight division titles in the AFC West, Like, I mean,
I'm not sitting there pounding the table for Rivers to
be a Hall of Famer, but consistency quality top ten
in a bunch of stats.

Speaker 6 (18:05):
I don't see why he wouldn't be Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Well, he's gonna get votes.

Speaker 5 (18:13):
I mean, listen, if you wanted to just be you
gotta win super Bowls, then fine, just say the Hall
of Fame for quarterbacks who wins Super Bowl?

Speaker 1 (18:20):
Well, no, Eli didn't just win super Bowls. He beat
Tom Brady twice as an underdog, So that's different. Again,
who you beat matters. If you beat the goat twice
as an underdog and beat the best coach, that's different.
It's not like Eli won a single Super Bowl and
beat Stan Humphries. You know that's not what it is

(18:42):
that's not you know, as.

Speaker 5 (18:43):
A Charger team, Russell Wilson into the Hall of Fame
or Philip Rivers both won or neither.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
Well, you know something that helps Philip Rivers. He played
one year out of San Diego in Indy. He was
really good. And somebody if you if you get down
to inches not feet with Philip Rivers, you're gonna say,
you know, look at all the stats and and then
then go look at the one year he left. Oh

(19:12):
he was good there too. That's what hurts Russell Wilson.
For Seattle. It was about eight really good years and
in Seattle wasn't great, Denver bad, and then just puttering out.
Like so when you get like Eli Manning had a
couple of bad seasons, but it was like he was
good by year four. He was good for a long time.
He beat Brady twice. He was unbelievable in January and February.

(19:36):
I mean, I again, it's with certain guys. It's really
easy with Eli and Philip Rivers, and Matt Ryan's gonna
get some boats.

Speaker 5 (19:43):
I was gonna say, Matt Ryan, do you think he
would get into the Hall of Fame?

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Oh, Rivers, I think well.

Speaker 6 (19:49):
I'm sorry I missed that. Yes or no.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
No, I don't think Matt, No, I don't think it's
it's like Manhattan get really really good, Philip Rivers, really
really good, like Hall of Fame's Cam Newton. Oh god, no,
you never had back to back winning seasons.

Speaker 6 (20:03):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
I just wanted to clarify that's not a shot.

Speaker 6 (20:06):
No, not at all. I'm with you.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
I would say, of the people you mentioned, Philip Rivers,
Cam Newton, Matt Ryan, I would say Phillip's the closest.
He'll get votes. He just got such profound production. Yeah, okay,
get votes.

Speaker 5 (20:24):
Final story Colin. The biggest NBA soap opera right now
is Jason McIntire's take on Bradley Beal and the Clippers.
And oh, by the way, it has come out now
that Bradley Beal was interested in the Lakers, did talk
to them, but the Lakers did not want to make
him a starter. The Clippers said you can start for

(20:45):
Norman Powell, and he choose the Clippers.

Speaker 6 (20:51):
I think that's kind of a lame.

Speaker 5 (20:53):
I would have harsher words off off air for Bradlebough.

Speaker 6 (20:57):
Hey man, I got to start. Oh you're not going
to me, fine, I'm going elsewhere. That's week hell.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
He's been a high end starter for most of his career.

Speaker 6 (21:05):
He cares who starts Colin, it's about and finishes.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
You want to be able to go NFL. I don't
start in the NBA. You generally don't finish well.

Speaker 6 (21:14):
I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
You got to show me.

Speaker 6 (21:16):
Are you good? Can you finish? Can you score?

Speaker 5 (21:18):
Bradley Beal is a really good score? So who you
like here? Lakers or Clippers? I don't see Marcus Martin graphic.
I guess they're going with Ruey, but well.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
I know, I know Austin Reeves, Luca Ruey eight and
and Lebron are going to play sixty plus games. The
Clippers issue is, I don't know how many games Kawhi
is gonna play or Beal's gonna play. So I would
take the Lakers over the Clippers just in terms of
I know what I get with the Lakers, better coaches Clippers, but.

Speaker 6 (21:45):
Bench I lose better than Reddick, Yes.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yes, and also you get a better center, better big
with the Clippers, better coach, better bench with the Clippers.
But I just don't know what I get with Kawhi.
I like their team. But Subot's a really really good big.
He's good. He's a really good player, probably the most
underrated big in the league. He's a good, really good big.

Speaker 6 (22:08):
Lakers did have him at one point. I don't know. Listen,
Clippers are good. I'm not gonna lie. I think right
now they're better than the Lakers. More depth, we'll see,
you know, Luca.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
Bench better, coach, better, better, big better. Question who's got.

Speaker 6 (22:23):
Better stars Lakers?

Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, that's right by the way, Lucas getting skiddier.

Speaker 6 (22:28):
Other footage merge or pictures and Lucas look at skinny Man.

Speaker 5 (22:32):
I'm just telling you he's gonna take over this league.
I cannot wait for revenge Luca next year.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
Reportedly, Luca has worked out this offseason, which is you know,
I'm supposed to be.

Speaker 6 (22:42):
Blown away tail the beverages.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
I don't know. Well, he's a you know, I think
I've been absolutely spot on day one in the league.
He's a better Carmelo. He's a great first ballot Hall
of Fame, top ten all time score, not committed to
be His conditioning fluctuates. I'll be kind the conditioning fluctuate,
A greedy, fun to watch though, first ballot Hall of

(23:07):
Famers fun to watch profound offensive players. I don't think
that's a knock. Not everybody's great, not everybody is everything.

Speaker 5 (23:17):
Gonna go ahead and stand out on this one while
you just.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Go off on Luca. Okay, uh jmckle the news.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The
Herd Line News. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nin am Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
Surprising reaction story this week. So the WNBA players came
out and they wore these T shirts the other day,
which is you know, a paysu os, which yeah, I
wouldn't have done. I think you should try to keep
your contract situation out of the papers and off television.
Kind of do it privately. That's the way I would

(24:00):
recommend it for anybody. Pay us what you owe us
and listen. I get the frustration because they make nine
percent of revenues and NBA players make fifty. But the
NBA has been around a long time. This is a
twenty five year old league that's never made need a profit.
So but I so I understand people who roll their
eyes at this. I get it, and I probably wouldn't

(24:22):
have done it, but it is interesting to me that
people are like, no way can you give them a raise?
And they're out of their mind. We were talking about this.
If let's say you had a company, you own a company,
and it was it was a podcast company, and you
had a bunch of podcasts, and you had one that
you'd spent a lot of money on for years and

(24:42):
years and it never really made a lot of money.
And for whatever reason, that podcast added somebody and suddenly
it was red hot, and merchandise for the podcast won
up five hundred percent, and the ratings doubled, and all
of a sudden, it was six months to go in
the contracts, time to negotiate a new contract. Are you
really letting it go? Are you going to hold those

(25:04):
previous years against them, or are you going to deal
with the reality that it's a different podcast now. The
WNBA is a different league now, yes, because of the
person over my shoulder on TV, Caitlin Clark. Just like
the golf tour was a different tour when Tiger Woods arrived.
Can you imagine being a network NBC and saying, well,

(25:25):
We're not going to pay that just because Tiger Woods
is great. And my argument would be, well, Tiger Woods
is just going into his prime for the next ten
to twelve years. He's going to move ratings. You're not
paying for our roster, you're not paying for depth. You're
paying for majors and what Tiger Woods does to the
ratings and the majors. So it doesn't matter that they
don't have thirty players that move the needle, and they

(25:48):
may only have one or two, and let's just say
it's one, but that one player is going to be
on TV. Remember when a network buys a contract for
a league they don't have. Fox has no resip reponsibility
to air the bottom twelve teams in baseball. We don't
have to air pirate games in Royal games and Red
Games and A's games. A lot of Yankees, a lot

(26:10):
of Mets, a lot of Braves, a lot of Dodgers.
Braves bad this year. A lot of Cubs. Throw the
Tigers in there. St. Louis Cardinals used to be on
TV all the time. They're not anymore. They're not interesting,
they're not as viable. There's no responsibility for Amazon Thursday
Night football. The NFL doesn't put everybody on as much
as the Bills, the Ravens, the Eagles, I mean the league.

(26:31):
Forget the network. The league puts a significant small number
of teams, six to seven teams. They put their games
on TV a lot. The Niners make TV a lot,
so to the Ravens, and you know, you know the teams,
the Packers, the Lions, the Cowboys. So even leagues acknowledge
we're not putting everybody on TV a bunch. The Carolina
is not making a lot of money net football games.

(26:51):
The league's choosing not to put them on, not ESPN.
So my tick is the argument, well, only Caitlin Clark
is the reason the league is exploded again. If you
had a podcast that lost money for twenty years and
all of a sudden, you know, you go into a
contract negotiation, they added somebody to the podcast and now
it's on fire. I'm giving that podcast a new life

(27:12):
and a new contract. I'm not bailing on it now.
I've been losing money for years. Why would I bail
on it now now? I don't think they deserve fifty
percent of revenues. Because NBA players are bigger stars, they
draw more fans. There's just more NBA players that get
people doing arena and they deserve a higher percentage of revenues.
Fifty percent, I think is what they make. So I mean,

(27:35):
even in the NFL, there'll be no Cleveland Brown primetime
games this season, No Titan games are in primetime. And
I'm told those Saints games, that's the league. When they
hand out Thursday Monday games. Now they're putting those guys
in the one o'clock window. That's a league, a network networks.
You know, we're not putting A's games on Fox. We're

(27:58):
not doing that. So I don't know. It seems to me,
and I'm not a businessman that it's all about to now,
I'm not going to punish a league because they didn't
move the needle. If negotiations are up and they've got
a new entity, a new star, a new human being,
a new product that is moving the needle, okay, you

(28:21):
guys got now. It'd be one thing if Caitland joined
the league and the CBA wasn't up for another five years,
then the nba'd be like, hey man, look at this.
Look at our revenues. They're exploding, and our merchandise is exploding.
The nba'd be like, we don't have to pay them.
It just so happens. Her second year in the league,
the CBA is up and the WNBA got very lucky.

(28:44):
They could have signed a new CBA the day before
she arrived in the league and they didn't. So the
first year she explodes. Second year, she's hurt, but she's
clearly changing the numbers and the league's got real momentum.
But I'm not going to punish an investment for lou
money for years. And by the way, not just because

(29:05):
you don't make a huge profit. I use this example
yesterday when the Athletic the subscription service when the New
York Times bought it, it was losing forty five million
a year. But the New York Times bought it knowing
they would increase their subs and subscriptions, and that was
in the bigger picture. They made enough money they could
absorb what the Athletic lost. So the NBA just signed

(29:27):
a seventy six billion dollar contract. They can absorb a
loss if the WNBA did not make big money. But
my guess is it's going to start making some money.
I mean that the TV package, it's going to start
making some money. So I just I just think when
you get into negotiations, timing is so it's such a

(29:47):
big deal if you you know it's it's a union.
Let's say you're a part of a union that makes
cars or automobiles. You're going to have a lot more leverage.
If the last two automobiles that were created, you know,
were hits, You're gonna have a more leverage that if
you're putting together duds on the on the on the line,

(30:09):
Like it's just about timing. When is your contract up?
How's the company doing? And the WNBA is doing much
better than it's ever done so and I I mean
Saturday's WNBA All Star Game was down thirty six percent
from last year because there was no Caitlin. So we're
not disputing that Caitlin is driving a lot of that business.

(30:31):
But she's not retiring anytime soon. You got ten years
of this. She's gonna play in ten All Star games,
She'll be in some three point shooting contests, she's gonna
be on t I guarantee you they play what is
their schedule thirty eight games a year, thirty six games
a year. Thirty of her games will be on TV.
They're gonna put thirty of her game Whoever, whoever is

(30:51):
doing the scheduling, whatever network, ESPN, ABC, they're gonna put
thirty of her games on TV. Connecticut Sung, we'll get back,
We'll get back. Indiana Fever, your games are on TV.
So and she, just like Tiger did with golf, she
has raised the overall popularity of the sport. So, I

(31:12):
mean it's not the Indiana Fever games are up, yes,
but the whole league is benefiting from her. All of
golf benefited from Tiger in his prime. People just more
three million people. I mean, people were signing up to golf,
more golf equipment sold when Tiger was in his prime.
You know you Nike got into golf big. I mean
like people that didn't do golf or golf got into it. So,

(31:35):
I don't know. I think the players have some leverage here,
not NBA leverage, not NFL leverage, not not baseball sports
are cyclical to baseball.

Speaker 6 (31:43):
Now.

Speaker 1 (31:44):
NBA is doing great, NFL is doing great. College football,
you know baseball, ESPN in baseball or are they talking
now that thing got a little ugly than the last
year
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