February 13, 2026 • 42 mins
Colin talks to Ethan Strauss, host of the “House of Strauss” podcast to share how the NBA can fix their tanking issue and why the Dodgers dominance is not a bad thing for Major League Baseball.
“Cupid Cowherd” makes an appearance ahead of Valentine’s Day to play matchmaker for QB needy NFL teams.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Welcome in an hour two it's a Friday. We're live
in Chicago.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
It's The Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Ethan Strauss, How do you fix the NBA All Star Game?
How do you fix tanking? Coamingo Warriors story in about
three minutes. So Lebron last night became the oldest player
to ever have a triple double. And you know, through
the years, I told the story years ago. My wife
went to the doctor in Los Angeles and she doesn't
know sports or anything. So she sat down. But she
(00:51):
used to live in Chicago and now she does again.
And then she saw this guy and she's like, ah,
that's kind of familiar. It looks like a sport. Was
Phil Jackson, And so they started talking and she said
Phil was very nice and everything, and she said Phil
said at the end, tell your husband he's.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Wrong about Lebron and Michael and Jordan.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Because I've said before Lebron James does more things well
than any basketball player I've ever seen. I always felt
he was more Magic Johnson, where he really did love
initiating offense for other people. But he's a better athlete
than and a better defender than Magic Johnson. But I
think his game Kobe was more Michael. Lebron's more Magic Johnson.
(01:31):
You know, he's got the power elements. He loves to
elevate others. He's fun. His sheer size, like Magic came
in at six eight and a half. His sheer size,
nobody knew how to defend a guard that was six
eight and a half. Lebron is still I've stood next
to Lebron two or three times. It was like a
pro football player. He looks like an NFL defensive end.
(01:51):
And last night is he really is remarkable. But when
you really really love a player, I love Derek Jeter,
I love John Elway, you know, I love certain acts.
I don't want to see him straight to you know,
rental video, the old term in their movie career. I
want to see clean endings. I want to see, like
you know, Martin Scorsese, the direct director direct every three
(02:14):
years have a great film.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
The Irishman.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Spielberg still feels like he's in his prime, as Primes
lasted forever. Yeah, but it's like, you know, every couple
of years do a great film. You don't have the
energy when you get older or whatever. It's like when
you really love people. I like nice, clean endings. I
don't want an Elvis ending or a Marlon Brando ending.
And so I think this should be Lebron's last year.
He's still like a top fifteen sixteen player. He still
has moments. I went and saw him in Chicago. He
(02:38):
literally was the best player on the floor, and then
Luca was the best player after that, and Luke ended
up with like forty some points. But here was Lebron
on becoming the oldest player to ever have a triple
double last night, and it went over the mav I've never.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Been sorry at basketball. So yeah, I've been good ever
since I started playing it. Any given night like a
finding to turn it on.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I could turnament all.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
The fact that you can go out and be able
to have an impact in three fasceted game, you know, rebound,
and this obviously is what I love the most being
able to get my guys.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Involved throughout my career.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
I've always loved that morning anything, and I'm being up
with the ball in the basket obviously that's that's part of.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
His game as well. Yeah, and he can still do that.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
And I have no idea if he's going to retire,
but it does feel like it would be. I think
John Elway could have played another year. Jeter probably could have.
Brady certainly could have three years after his retirement.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Who knows. If Lebron plays, he'll be good.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
But when you really like a director, an actor, and athlete,
I just like cleaner endings. So the NBA is, and
I don't want to overstate this, because every time the
NFL season ends, we start paying more attend baseball hasn't started.
We start paying more attention to the NBA. And I
(03:57):
feel like there's a month it's like mid February, mid March.
All we do is crap on the NBA and the
playoffs will be amazing.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
They always are. But when Bill Simmons.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Comes out and I think it's something I cause I
talk about this a lot the business side of sports.
It's like, is Adam Silver the right guy. The tankings
feels like it's really bad. The load management's almost comical.
And with that, Ethan Strauss, one of the best substacks
out there, House of Strauss, NBA Warriors and Culture podcasts,
is joining us. So listen. Tanking's been going on forever.
(04:29):
I said about an hour ago with David Stern, you
had it. But Stern was an ominous, threatening, loud presence,
and like he would call gms and coaches and players,
and you know, he was brutal. He wouldn't apologize. Adam
Silver more pleasant, and I think at times it feels
like star players take advantage of Adam Silver. Do you
(04:52):
have a belief Ethan, on how to fix the tanking problem?
Speaker 6 (04:58):
I do, and I have to disagree with you right
off the bat. I don't think tanking has been a
problem forever. I think there's a time when you were
an NBA fan when it wasn't And sometimes the old
ways work better than some of these crazy, big brained
ideas I'm seeing floated around out there.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
The NBA used to do it this way.
Speaker 6 (05:19):
If you missed the playoffs, you had an equal chance
as every other lottery team to win the lottery. Now
some people might say that's not fair. You know that
you're the worst team and you get the thirteenth pick
or whatever. But guess what, I don't think we want
to reward losing to such a degree and let's just
do on the one hand, on the other hand, right
(05:40):
on the one hand, maybe the worst team in the
league gets the eleventh or twelfth pick and they stay bad.
On the other hand, we have what we have now,
which is a third of the league intentionally losing for months.
I would say that outcome is worse, and I would
say go back in time. The league made a mistake
in the past when they flipped out out after Orlando
(06:01):
got consecutive number one picks and they got Shack and
they got Penny Hardaway. You know the funny thing about
that is the owners freaked out. That was objectively great
for the NBA. That was a charismatic team. If that's
the bad outcome, I mean, I think that they made
a huge mistake way back when I think return to
the old days. You make the playoffs, you get a
(06:22):
bigger playoff share to incentivize making the playoffs. You miss
the playoffs. Everybody's got the same long shot. Do it
that way, get rid of all this tanking the All
Star Game, and further record in fairness. The Pro Bowls unwatchable.
The only All Star game that's any good is baseball.
I do think we've moved into a time now. The
All Star Game in baseball was great because you didn't
(06:43):
see all these players and all these games. Now that
I can watch any team anytime, even the Baseball All
Star Game doesn't feel as big. It's good, it's the best,
but it doesn't feel as great. Pro Bowls unwatchable and
was for years the NBA All Star Game. Listen, could
I say this the players they're so rich now they
just want time off. It's not solvable. Or do you
(07:04):
have a way to fix the NBA All Star Game.
I do have a way to fix the NBA All
Star Game, but I don't think it's ever going to
be implemented.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
And no, it's not Nick Wright's idea.
Speaker 6 (07:16):
Our guy Nick writes idea to have the black guys
play the white guys, which that will never be implemented.
But that would be interesting. That would be interesting. I
guess the first thing I would say about it is this,
the NBA's general problem with Adam Silver is doing too much.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
It's doing too much the NBA.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
It's like a celebrity that gets so many plastic surgeries,
a good looking celebrity that you go, I don't even
recognize this. So the first thing I do to the
All Star Game is stop with all the crazy reforms.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
I don't even know what this thing is right now.
Where there's a round robin.
Speaker 6 (07:50):
You know, before they had the players pick the guys,
they have the elam ending.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Here's a crazy idea.
Speaker 6 (07:56):
You get the most popular players from the Eastern Conference
and they play the most popular players in the Western Conference.
It's something that makes sense to my dad. It's something
I can explain to my son, Well, how do you
get them to try hard? That's the thing everybody's thinking
about right now. You hear about money. The All Star
Game is not about money, It's about status. What I
(08:17):
think should happen and that Adam Silver will never do
is he chooses the players. He makes the selection based
on what he's seen in the popularity. And if you
dog it, if you loaf, well guess what, maybe you're
not getting invited to next season's All Star Game because
the players they might not care about trying in the
(08:38):
All Star Game.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
But they care about being an All Star.
Speaker 6 (08:42):
They care about having that designation, and when Hall of
Fame voting happens, that's something that they want on their mantle.
So if you have a little bit of that incentive
of the commissioners choosing the guys, we're choosing the twelve
best entertainers in our sport on each team, and if
you're not going to be an entertain for our sport,
you're not showing up. I think that's enough incentive not
(09:04):
to try to the point where you might get yourself hurt,
but at least not to dog it, not to loaf,
not to launch from.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Fifty feet away. That's what I would do. Always have
great ideas. Okay, so you know, I mean, you really
covered the Warriors forever. You wrote a book about it,
The Victory Machine, The Making and Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty.
I've always felt you should love your kids like your
superstar players. The Warriors fell in love with Steph Curry
(09:32):
and they've tried to make everything work through that ecosystem.
And the truth is young players can't play with current
Steph Curry's offense. It hasn't worked. And now they're old
and slow and small, and it's just like if he's
not on the floor, it's hard to watch. So the
Kaminga story is one and I talked about this two
days ago. I was never I've never been a G
League fan, especially G League ignite. Scoot Henderson, Jalen Jalen
(09:57):
the Kid, Jalen Green, and Kamingo got our G League ignite.
I would call it G League ignore. It was overstated,
none of that. There's never been a great player from
G League. You don't get the coaching, you don't get
the marketing, you don't get the development. And I think
college basketball shouldn't be demonized. That being said, clearly, Kaminga,
(10:20):
as he improved as a player, played less under Kerr.
So I mean it's like you would think he starts here,
but the last three years it's like it's fewer games,
it's fewer minutes.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
He's in the doghouse. What do you make of it?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
They all say nice stuff, Curse has nice stuff on
the way out, but like, what happened?
Speaker 6 (10:39):
Do you believe? Okay, So when you started with the
parenting analogy, I thought it was going to be about Kminga,
because Cominga reminds me of something I try to tell
my son all the time, which is the Roman proverb.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Before you can lead, you must follow.
Speaker 6 (10:57):
And so I'm reading these reports by Anthony and other
people that Kminga's offended that Kerr wanted him to be
an Aaron Gordon or as Sean Marrian.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Well, guess what.
Speaker 6 (11:08):
In the NBA, before you get to be what you
want to be, you've got to build a basis of
what the coach needs you to be. It's not a charity.
The coach needs to win. And afterwards you can build
out your game. You can be more than useful to
your coach, but it's got to start with useful to
your coach. And I think a lot of these guys okay,
(11:29):
So here's something I was told last time I was
at Summer League because I was asking is the big
money screwing these guys up?
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Because there's so.
Speaker 6 (11:36):
Much money in the league, and somebody who's in ownership
told me, no, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
The big money's not screwing up the guys who get it.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
It's screwing up the guys who don't, the young guys
like Kuminga who feel, hey, I'm just as good as
this guy getting crazy money. In the new CBA structure,
it's haves and have not, so if you're on the
outside looking in, it creates this dynamic where I think
I'm a superstar already. I want the money already. It's
right there. And a lot of guys, a lot of
(12:04):
young guys, I think, are forgoing the process. And that's
what that G League Knight thing was all about. It
was guys who wanted to be a superstar right now,
as opposed to paying dues, as opposed to getting through
their paces.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
And I would say one more thing.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
I'm not saying Steve Kerr is perfect, but I do
think he's had a good track record on this. We
can say Steve Kerr doesn't develop young talent, and I
would say, well, who's the young guy who left the
Warriors and flourished? Who was he wrong about? Is Patrick
McCaw putting up any triple doubles anywhere? He's been correct
about these guys for the most part. I just don't
(12:40):
think he's had the horses.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Yeah, I don't think Kamnga ever developed a three point shot.
He's up and down in the interior, he's allows he
rebounder I think Kerr knows that he got frustrated with
a player who didn't grow and develop. You know, people
by now know, you know the redemptive arc of Sam Darnold.
And I think every year we learn things in pro sports,
(13:03):
and we'll see it with Mendoza in with the Raiders.
He's gonna get beat up. He's gonna lose a lot
of games. He's gonna throw a lot of picks. And
I do think I will be and I think I
try to do this all the time, is let's not
bail on young people. Young people's success is largely beholden
to who are their bosses, And when you get to
be forty or fifty, y're established. You know, Tom Brady
(13:25):
by the end in Tampa, guys, I'm gonna run the offense.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
So I don't really care.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Is there anything that jumped out to you on Sam
Donald that maybe hadn't been said, or how did through
your prism, how did you view it?
Speaker 6 (13:38):
Well? I know you love Sam Donald, so I don't
want to denigrate him and say that he didn't turn
into some great player. But I think Sam Donald's average,
and I think that's okay, and I think that's what
my lesson was on this whole thing. He played really
well against the Rams. I thought he was okay in
the Super Bowl. The advanced stats say that he was
pretty average. And maybe the lesson is that we overrate
(14:01):
the quarterback because this isn't the NBA. We act like
it's the NBA and you're one of five guys if
you're a superstar.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I mean, that just means so much.
Speaker 6 (14:09):
I feel as though the Bills get overrated every year
for their playoff chances because people act as though Josh
Allen's greatness can overcome a talent deficit. And so I
think the lesson with Sam Darnold is perhaps we might
even make too big a deal of the surrounding weapons
quarterbacks have on offense and not a big enough deal
about all the other help that allows them to win.
(14:32):
If you've got the best defense and a good running game,
as the Seahawks had, that goes a long way.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You can win with an average quarterback.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
We say, hey, this guy's not a super Bowl level quarterback.
I think a super Bowl level quarterback is just a
guy who's competent. I think we saw this super Bowl,
and I think we saw it last super Bowl with
Jalen Hurts when we were trying to make him out
to be somebody that he wasn't.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
He was fine.
Speaker 6 (14:58):
And that's the lesson in the NFL. You can win
with a quarterback who's fine. It doesn't have to be Mahomes.
You just have to be great at the other stuff.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
I like that take.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I don't have to agree with it, but I like it.
I was saying this Ethan Ethan Strauss joining us for
the radio audience.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Check him out.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
House of Strauss is probably my favorite podcast I listened
to on a regular basis. I was saying on Lebron,
I don't want I didn't like the way MJ's career ended.
I love the way it ended for Jeter, Kobe's last game,
John Elway, I don't want my actor to end like
Marlon Brando, my musician, and like Elvis. Lebron is still
(15:36):
very good two and a half three minutes left in
the game. Because his lack of stamina late, he's not
the defensive player. I don't trust him at the free
throw on in big spots. He's still a top fifteen
to twenty player, but I wouldn't take him over like
right now, Kawhi late in the game, Jokic, Wemby, SGA
and all that. I think it's the perfect time to go.
(15:56):
We have great memories. It's amazing. He doesn't need the money.
How do you think the Lakers ends?
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Andy? Does it matter to It won't hurt Lebron's.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Legacy, But would you prefer a clean ending? If the
Lakers are like, you know, we're not bringing it back.
How do you think it ends and how do you
want it to end?
Speaker 6 (16:19):
I believe the story is kind of run out, and
you're already seeing signs of it. I know you famously
talked about worrying when a guy gets really into golf.
I saw it reported that Lebron got a track man.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
In his house. For people who don't know what that is.
That's this thing that.
Speaker 6 (16:37):
Shows you exactly how hard and where you're hitting a
golf ball and how you're hitting a golf ball. That's
often a sign that the mind is on something other
than the hard woods. So it almost seems like he's
spiritually he's spiritually removed from it. But then you've got
this other thing happening, which, again, the money is so big.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
I'm not saying Lebron's motivated by money.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Clearly has a ton of money, but it has gotten
to this point column where you're walking away from you know,
sixty seventy million dollars a year.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
That's that's not nothing.
Speaker 6 (17:09):
So I kind of wonder with some of these older players,
some of these millennial players in the NBA, if they're
all going to stick around a little too long, because
it's hard to walk away from this amount of money,
and it's already hard to just see goodbye to the
sport that you're used to.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
So I think that one's tough.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
I'd expect him to at least do another year, get
the farewell tour.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Lebron likes attention, that's my expectation.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
I think it would be better and cleaner of the
in it now, like you said, but I think we're
getting at least one more season.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Oh I you know, I didn't have this written down,
or maybe I did. I love your Macro take on this.
So if the Dodgers, My take is the outrage for
the Dodgers signing Kyle Tucker is based on the Dodgers
winning Game seven and they start now they're stacking trophies
in succession. We don't like that, we didn't love the
(18:01):
tush push. It was outrageous and needed to be banned.
And then the Eagles went belly up this last year,
and nobody cares about the tush push, right. They weren't
as good at it. The team isn't as good. We
don't like separation. We watched dynasties, but sometimes we resent them.
And my take is the Kyle Tucker, who the Cubs
(18:22):
couldn't get rid of fast enough, drew all this outrage.
The Yankees and the Mets and the Blue Jays are
often outspending the Dodgers, but the Mets aren't run well,
the Yankees don't care as much, and the Blue Jays
don't have a title, and that A lot of this
with the Dodgers isn't the spending. It's that now that
(18:43):
they've put him back to back, Kyle Tucker, who's not
but Milkie Betts, who's not Freddy Freeman, who's not close
to Otani. We're bothered by the titles, not necessarily the acquisition.
And I don't think baseball should have a salary cap. Mets, Cub, Astros, Dodgers, Podres,
they're all interesting. Small market Seattle, Cleveland, interesting. Where do
(19:06):
you land on this labor stoppage that is imminent because
of the Kyle Tucker siding.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
I'm one hundred percent with you on this, and it
reminds me of something from my career as a beat writer.
People they almost forget about this, But do you remember
when the Warriors added to Marcus Cousins one summer and
how everybody flipped out. Indeed, it inspired the NBA owners
(19:35):
to restructure the CBA to punish the Warriors and prevent
this stacking of talent. You know what DeMarcus Cousins did
for the Warriors, absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing. He frustrated Steve
Kerr even more than Jonathan Kaminga. It wasn't anything for them,
But because of that impression that they were unbeatable and
had such a massive edge, people flipped out about it.
(19:58):
And I think it's the same with the I think
it's been great for baseball that the Dodgers are a
recognizable brand.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
And that they've been winning.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
And I don't think that their victory is as assured
as people think it is. Baseball still got a lot
of randomness, a lot of randomness. They almost lost that
game seven, like you said, and look, I think it's
better for the MLB that the Dodgers are competitive than
these weird world series like the Rangers versus the Diamondbacks.
With apologies to fans of those teams, I think it's
(20:27):
been great for the MLB. And this is one of
these situations to bring this whole conversation full circle, like
when the NBA screwed up their whole draft lottery system,
where the petty resentments of owners get in the way
of the.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Best product for everybody.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
And for the fans. Ethan Strauss. He does such a
great job as Substack. Read that every time one's out
his podcast. The House of Strauss covers everything big thinker
and football season's over, we have to work a little harder.
There's not as much juice out there in material and content.
Your stuff remains just viable and interesting and good scenior again.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Oh great, senior, Colin love being here.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
All right, Ethan Strauss. Who if I'm going to go
on a forty five minute walk. That's one of the
podcasts I put in always makes me think, Yeah that
the baseball thing pitchers catchers report this week Dodgers today
is I remember the DeMarcus Cousin signed with the Warriors,
and it's all this. Listen right now. The Yankees are relevant,
the Mets are relevant, the Phillies are relevant, the Cubs
(21:30):
are relevant, the Dodgers are relevant, the Podreys are relevant.
The Astros, if they're healthy, will be in small market
Cleveland and small market Seattle, though though I don't think
of Seattle a small market. We're excellent last year, and
I could be wrong on this one. In Baltimore really good.
You know, everybody looks at well, what about Saint Louis, Well,
the economy in Saint Louis has died.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Is that LA's fault.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
You don't build leagues to protect the bottom eight teams.
You should build teams for the middle class and above.
And like networks, ESPN and Fox have no responsibility or
NBC to air the bottom twelve teams. The television ratings
are up nationally. Why because you're airing these really stacked,
(22:13):
excellent teams. So, for the record, Milwaukee was great last year,
Seattle was great last year, Cleveland was great. Last year,
Big market DC wasn't. The Mets underwhelmed. So it's and
there's also, as Ethan said, there's so much randomness in baseball.
Dodgers couldn't keep pitchers healthy for two years, and if
(22:34):
not for Dave Johnson in one of the craziest games
evers ever, pulling every right lever I mean substituting, you know,
an infielder who hadn't been hitting. Dave Roberts excuse me,
I mean literally, Dave Roberts pulled every stink and lever
in Game seven, and they all just.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Happened to work. There was a randomness to it.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
That's why the Dodgers were the World Series because and
I think if Dodger fans were truly honest, the more
consistent team at the plate was Toronto. I mean, for
a lot of that series, I felt Toronto was the
better team. When I had runners on or big spots
at the plate, I trusted Toronto's bats more than I
did the Dodgers. And it just so happens the randomness
(23:22):
kind of worked in the Dodgers favor.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
One more Heard the Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
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Speaker 3 (23:36):
Sote gots here.
Speaker 7 (23:37):
I have a podcast empire. It continues to grow, and
I have brought it here to iHeart. I'm also doing
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Speaker 4 (23:47):
My wife wanted to kick me out of the house.
Speaker 7 (23:49):
It's called Stegatzi Company Live, which is available in podcast
form right when the show finishes every single day. Some
of the biggest names in sports, a lot of phone calls.
Speaker 8 (24:01):
I love you guys, your show, it's one of my favorite.
Speaker 7 (24:03):
A lot of interact guys not taking themselves too seriously.
Those are just some of the things that you can
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So listen to Steve Gotson Company Live and our original podcast.
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(24:26):
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Speaker 1 (24:43):
All right, welcome that Julian Edelman is going to be
joining us last hour here on a Friday. It is
Valentine's Day tomorrow, so I will have I'll play matchmaker.
I'm cupid cowherd around here, so I'm gonna play match
maker before the end of the hour on NFL team
looking for quarterbacks and the current available quarterbacks. I think
(25:04):
the mac Jones situation with the Niners is fascinating. I
think to myself, if I'm the Colts, do I want
to go after mac Jones? But the Colts gave up
two first for Sauce Gardner, and I don't want to
give up more draft capital when I may need to
get another quarterback in next year's draft. So I'm going
to give you the teams looking for a quarterback and
some of the quarterbacks I think would fit with the team.
(25:25):
What would I do as the matchmaker between quarterback and team?
The Steelers are an interesting one, the Vikings, the Colts,
the Jets, the Browns, the Cardinals, the Dolphins. I think
there's a way to go about this with an eye
on the future in most cases.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
Here is John Middlecoff with the.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
News on the news.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
This is the herd Line News.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Okay, Colin.
Speaker 8 (25:49):
With free agency right around the corner, get ready to
hear a lot about AJ Brown.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
And his trade status.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (25:56):
He obviously let his frustrations be known all season, and
a recent report indicates that Philly will entertain a trade
offer for the three time Pro bowler. And Jason Kelsey
even spoke to Brown's frustration and how he can be
a detriment to the offense.
Speaker 9 (26:12):
I think there's got to be a reason that Aj
is well liked in the building by coaches and players.
He's well respected. I think part of it is that
he's a great player, and you know, teammates want him
there and know that he can be a dominating force
for them. But you know, those frustrations. He's just the
unfortunate player who allows his internal frustrations to manifest into
(26:35):
his play, and it makes him play worse, It makes
the offense worse, and it makes his energy worse.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
No, I think that's a good way to put it.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Like some guys can contain it, to compartmentalize it. AJ
Brown's probably not that guy, you know, I.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Think I guess I would ask you this.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
I think there's a chance the Eagles unravel this year
a little bit. Last year, we didn't know they weren't
gonna win until they didn't win, because they would have
these halves of football and they kept winning a lot
of close games. I kind of think it's gonna unravel
this year. Sirianni hurts AJ Brown, and they'll be moves,
do you well.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
I mean, I don't know, unraveled.
Speaker 8 (27:17):
Because the GM's so good, they'll be talented, but they
got a lot of question marks.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
AJ Brown's gone. He's gonna be traded here in a
couple of weeks.
Speaker 6 (27:24):
Right.
Speaker 8 (27:24):
Unofficially, AJ Brown will not be back on the team.
Lane Johnson reports he might retire. Landon Dickerson pro bowler
might retire. Did you see the guy they hired to
be their offensive coordinator? He's never called plays, so this
is not one of those. You know, Kellen Moore had
been a play caller for a long time in Dallas, right,
Shane Stiken was a rising star. Philip Rivers was telling
everyone that would listen that years ago. You know, you go,
(27:46):
Sean Manning this new quarterback or I mean new coordinator.
You just never know. We saw with Brian Johnson, we
saw last year with Kevin Patola, who's Sirianni's guy. I
think the AJ Brown situation to me, you know, he
makes thirty two million dollars, Colin, look at the drafts.
You could find a guy for a million bucks and
gave me seventy five catches A j last year has
(28:08):
seventy eight catches, so I'm gonna trade. You know, people
are the Patriots. Patriots are gonna trade their second round pick.
They just made it a Super Bowl for a guy
making thirty two million dollars. I'd be stunned, you know.
I think his value and I'm pro aj Brown. He's
a very talented player. I think his value, though, is
going to shock people when who they have one of
the best gms. He's great at making trades, but I
don't think it's gonna be easy for him just to
(28:29):
get like, you know, pick forty for AJ Brown.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
I think those days have passed interesting, you know.
Speaker 8 (28:35):
Speaking of troublesome wide receivers, George Pickens, he obviously had
a great first year in Dallas.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
But he already could be on his way out.
Speaker 8 (28:43):
Reports indicate the Cowboys expected to franchise him this offseason.
They could then return, turn around and trade him for
a second round pick.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
I don't know about you, Colin. I don't see any
team in the.
Speaker 8 (28:55):
League trading if they franchised twenty eight million dollars and
then trading Jerry a second round pick, I don't see
that one happening.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Well, I think we know the one position where college
players can come right in and have immediate impact as
wide receiver. I think Dak has shown an ability to
work with Amari Cooper and Ceedee Lamb and tight ends.
I think Dak. I think they've got Ryan Floornoy is
an interesting player. I think Ceedee Lamb's an absolute legit
(29:22):
number one. I think they're going to draft fairly early
at tight end. I just I wouldn't do it, you know.
I think what happens sometimes Jerry the GM and I
think this happens in all businesses. You make choices to
validate earlier decisions. And they gave up a third I
think did they give up a thirty fifth? Yeah, and
(29:42):
it's like, okay, now they feel like they have to
sign him, and and I get that. So that's you know,
they're they're going to validate their earlier decision and pay him.
But I've got two examples last year for a stretch
in Dallas and at Pittsburgh, and for the record, there
were red flags out of Georgia that he can be
a bit disruptive. So I thought he had a great year,
(30:06):
but I would struggle to pay him big money.
Speaker 8 (30:09):
Yeah, I think the Cowboys are probably committed on this
Jared's proven. You know, Micah Parsons is kind of the
outlier situation where he pivoted. I think they'll go all
in that. You know, they're paying dact big money. Listen,
if they can keep him on the straight and arrow,
there is no uh, it'd be hard to argue that
their offense wouldn't have a chance to be one of
the best in the league if George is playing well. Okay,
(30:30):
Colin last, but not least, the Rams and the Seahawks.
They went head to head three times last season, played
some great games, and the Seahawks obviously went on to
win it all.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
But Jared Verse spoke to how he feels about their
rivals up North.
Speaker 10 (30:48):
I genuinely like, I don't like them. I'd like, I
got like a disdain in my heart for them, like
I hate them, Like I don't like the Seahawks, Like
there's nothing I like about them. I don't like their players,
there's nobody I like about their stat I don't like them.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
I think that's incredibly realistic and healthy, and I'm glad
that he I'm glad he went out there, and I
think that's I think that for the next year or
two will probably be the best rivalry in the sport.
Speaker 8 (31:12):
Well, you know what's funny, Colin is forever is the
Steelers against the Ravens. Yes, and then some of the
NFC East, you know with the Eagles and the Giants
and the Cowboys. Over the years, you could argue the
three teams in the NFC West, I mean, the Niners
of Seattle have been rivals since Harbon Peete got there.
Now Seattle with Mike McDonald going at this defensive mind
going up against McVay and Shanahan, you kind of have
(31:34):
a three way rivalry because the Niners don't like Seattle
or LA LA doesn't like San Francisco, and now them
and Seattle.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
Are at each other.
Speaker 8 (31:40):
Odds, it doesn't even matter that the Cardinals aren't that good.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
You got those three teams that are three of the
better teams in the league.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
It is.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
It's interesting about I mean you just go to like
a replay here or a replay there, and the Rams
were in the Super Bowl and they would have beaten
New England or the Seahawks, like the Seahawks Super Bowl.
That's a really really good team. But you go back
to those Ram games and Matt Stafford multiple times walked
up and down the field against the Seahawks defense, and
(32:08):
so I kind of feel like like everybody else did that.
As great as the Seahawks team is and the story is,
the reality is it could have just as easily. If
you don't get this replay overturned or this call, it
could have been a Ram Super Bowl. There is such
a thin line between what Seattle and the Rams and
the Niners produced. Niners had really unforeseen injuries, but I mean,
(32:32):
I would argue that the Rashid Shaheed, the special teams
for Seattle eventually sort of catapults them slightly ahead of
the Rams.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
That's about it, Colin.
Speaker 8 (32:42):
Even the Rams winning the Super Bowl this year, which
was on the table, what about last year when they
were a couple of plays away from beating the Eagles,
Then they would have played the Commanders, who they would
have killed. They would have had a one game situation
against a pretty flawed Chiefs team.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
So mcveigh's probably lost some sleep the last couple of
years knowing he could have a couple more rings.
Speaker 5 (32:57):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
John Middlecoff with the New Well.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
That's the news, and thanks for stopping by the herd
Line News.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yeah, the Julian Edelman Last Hour, Ethan Strauss This Hour.
It's this has always been an interesting week. This week
and next week have always been really interesting weeks to
be a talk show host because this wildly popular sport.
It's probably like the week after the Stanley Cup in
Canada or the week after like the English Premier League.
(33:26):
You know the championship has been settled, you get this
sort of oh, everybody takes a deep breath, and we
all kind of beat up on the NBA here for
about a week before it goes into the All Star Game.
Ethan Strauss, I thought was really good on it is.
I do think the playoffs will be excellent. I mean,
and the money the NBA made with their last deal
(33:47):
is substantial. But I think the NBA should not look
at the NFL. I think the NBA should look at baseball.
And baseball's had a two and a half three year
renaissance because of tweaks, and I contend it's too repetitive.
There's too many threes.
Speaker 6 (34:05):
You know.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
My feeling on that, I would take the three point
arc and move it into the bench. I would not
allow these corner threes. It would force players to defend
the three ball more from the arc. Centers would still
be would not have to leave the circle. Therefore there'd
be more collisions at the rim, more physicality. It would
(34:27):
be harder to get open threes on the arc, and
it would become more of a situational get a bucket,
get a stop league, which I think the playoffs become.
And it's much better to watch playoff basketball than regular
season three point shooting contests. Also, I don't know what
exactly to do with the tanking. Ethan Strauss had his opinion,
but I do think the NBA is making a lot
of money and the playoffs are really really exciting. I
(34:49):
don't know about shortening the league. I mean they're playing
two games a week. I think it's fine. Oh what
about all the injuries. I think they could play through
a lot of these injuries. I do, I really do.
I think a lot of this stuff is sort of
managing for the postseason where the game gets more physical.
But I think the NBA, between the money, between their
(35:10):
social relevance and between playoff basketball, I think it's fine.
I don't think the trajectory though going forward is as
promising as baseball. It's not as popular as the NFL,
and I just read a Pete Tamil story this morning
about college football potentially expanding the playoff in college football
the twenty four teams, which would make the committee much
less relevant, which I would like. I don't know if
(35:31):
I like twenty four teams, but I feel like baseball's
moving up, NFL's moving up. College basketball ratings have been great,
College football ratings were great. I don't know if the
NBA's in that space. They got their money, they got
their bag. Doesn't feel like it's as tight as it
needs to be.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
There's just too many lingering issues here. Stupid Cowherd.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
I'll be a matchmaker quarterbacks that are available and teams
that need them.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
That is next.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 8 (36:15):
App Fox College Hoops Friday is Tom Izzo's tenth rated
Michigan State squad taking on Nick Boyd in Wisconsin tonight
at eight eastern on Fox.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
Well.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
As many of you know, I am a hopeless romantic.
I'm gonna play. Valentine's Day is tomorrow. I'm gonna play
matchmaker teams that need a quarterback and quarterbacks who are available.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
John, set me up. Here we go on the eve
of Valentine's Day.
Speaker 8 (36:45):
Okay, Colin, who are you pairing with Kevin O'Connell and
the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Well, the Vikings are ready to win now with their personnel.
I would go get Aaron Rodgers. Aaron, will you be
my schoolmate? I think it works. First of all, all
JJ McCarthy's going into year three. It is beyond durability issues.
It's little stuff, it's big stuff. You can't depend on him.
You got Justin Jefferson, an elite left tackle. Minnesota's got
(37:12):
good players, an excellent head coach. Minnesota's got an elite
defensive coordinator. By the way, Chicago's getting better, Green Bays better,
the Lions solved their offensive coordinator issues. You could be
in fourth place very quickly with another JJ McCarthy injury.
Speaker 4 (37:28):
I'd go get.
Speaker 8 (37:29):
Aaron Okay, Colin, new GM, new coach, who are repairing
with the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
I would retain. I would stay with Tua for one
more year. He's under contract. Nobody's gonna buy it out.
It's sort of fantastic, right for a year. He's got
he's got an out after next season. The Dolphins can
go big game hunting in a year. But John, he's
good enough to win games.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Now.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
There's limitations on the market he has. There's a new GM.
There's no reason to commit unless you could get a
Fernando Mendoza. There's no real reason that Stephen Ross in
this organization could commit. They have some roster rebuilding to
do before they worry about the quarterback. To is expensive,
he doesn't have a market. I'd stay with him.
Speaker 8 (38:17):
Okay, we have a new sheriff in town. Who are
we pairing with the Steelers?
Speaker 1 (38:22):
Okay, this one makes sense to me. I would go
get Malik Willis. Okay, McCarthy has a connection to Green Bay.
He's going to have intel. Also, the Steelers need to
get younger and more athletic.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
Molik Willis.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
I mean, there are people in the building and people
out of the building that are saying he's better than
Jordan Love. I don't think so, but he is electric.
He played very well in Green Bay. McCarthy has a
history of getting the best out of quarterbacks despite the
criticism he gets. He's got that connection. I mean, let's
face it with Aaron. Aaron did the best job possible.
(38:57):
But do you really think Aaron and Mike McCarthy, I
mean McCarthy's went and hired a new staff. One of
them doesn't really see eye to eye with Aaron. It
doesn't feel like an ideal fit. I think Malik Willis
works for me.
Speaker 8 (39:08):
Okay, Colin, this could be a team fresh off of
divorce looking for love who repairing with the Cardinals?
Speaker 4 (39:14):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
I think Kyler Murray has served his time. There's not
a good vibe with ownership and Kyler Murray. I like him,
I'm in the minority. I would move him out and
eat his contract. I would go do what Sean Payton
and the Denver Broncos did. I would eat the contract.
They just wanted Russell Wilson out of the building. We're
going to reach a little bit on bow Nicks. It
was viewed as a reach by many in the league.
(39:36):
I would not take Ty Simpson from Bama at three.
I would trade down to ten, eleven, twelve. I'm much
more comfortable if I can accumulate more picks. Okay, if
I can get a fourth or a fifth and move
down from three to ten or twelve, then I'll reach
on Ty Simpson. And for the record, you got a
(39:58):
young offensive coach to webe Brissette. He may not be
able to beat him out, but you'll know in a
year from practice and some play whether you should go
for another quarterback or.
Speaker 4 (40:09):
Keep the kid.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
But if you think he's got the ability to be
your starter, get him in house. Former Rams assistant, work
on him for a year.
Speaker 4 (40:18):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
It's not a great situation, but I do think occasionally
with Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray, and this has happened before.
I think it's just time the locker room needs to
be cleared. You eat the contract to Kyler for a year.
Speaker 8 (40:31):
Well, this is a team that once got famously left
at the altar right before the start of the season.
They've been looking for love ever since. Colin, who are
you pairing with the Colts?
Speaker 1 (40:39):
I think Riley Leonard let him play for a year.
I liked him more than most people out of Notre Dame.
He had one start last year. The Texans rested a
lot of starters. Shane Steichen will get the most out
of anybody.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
Now.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
They gave up first round picks for Sauce Gardner, so
I wouldn't be giving up picks to move up play
the kid. I don't want to commit long term to
Daniel Jones, who with the Jets. I would take Greg
Nessmeyer LSU quarterback in the second round. Not because I
think he's going to be amazing, but Justin Fields gets hurt.
This is going to be a terrible team. Whether he's
(41:11):
a starter or a backup. I think he's absolutely at
some point at least a spot starter or a bridge starter.
I'd get him in the building.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
Well, Cleveland ever find a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
Well, let me be a matchmaker here. I Shade or
do love having you as a friend. I would keep
Shador Sanders. Why not they they're still stuck with the
Shawn Watson's contract. I think he's entertaining merch sales interest.
I like watching him play. I'd give him another year.
You're not a title team anyway. Strongest opinion on my
(41:42):
match mate.
Speaker 3 (41:43):
You know, I think you left out a name. Derek Carr.
Speaker 8 (41:46):
Rumors have been circulating about him making comeback. I think
he makes sense Minnesota, Indianapolis, two Dome teams. I mean
Aaron Rodgers. There's no guarantee. He might just stay in Malibu,
Colin work the Beaches. Derek Carr, Shanstike, and Kevin O'Connell.
I think he'd be an upgrade for both franchises. Inside
makes some sense to me.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
Good stuff.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
John Middlecoff, We had to hour number three on a Friday.
Julian Edelman, the three time Super Bowl chant, will stop
by Chicago's where we're at.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
It's the Herd.
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):
Welcome in an hour two it's a Friday. We're live
in Chicago.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
It's The Herd.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Ethan Strauss, How do you fix the NBA All Star Game?
How do you fix tanking? Coamingo Warriors story in about
three minutes. So Lebron last night became the oldest player
to ever have a triple double. And you know, through
the years, I told the story years ago. My wife
went to the doctor in Los Angeles and she doesn't
know sports or anything. So she sat down. But she
(00:51):
used to live in Chicago and now she does again.
And then she saw this guy and she's like, ah,
that's kind of familiar. It looks like a sport. Was
Phil Jackson, And so they started talking and she said
Phil was very nice and everything, and she said Phil
said at the end, tell your husband he's.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Wrong about Lebron and Michael and Jordan.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Because I've said before Lebron James does more things well
than any basketball player I've ever seen. I always felt
he was more Magic Johnson, where he really did love
initiating offense for other people. But he's a better athlete
than and a better defender than Magic Johnson. But I
think his game Kobe was more Michael. Lebron's more Magic Johnson.
(01:31):
You know, he's got the power elements. He loves to
elevate others. He's fun. His sheer size, like Magic came
in at six eight and a half. His sheer size,
nobody knew how to defend a guard that was six
eight and a half. Lebron is still I've stood next
to Lebron two or three times. It was like a
pro football player. He looks like an NFL defensive end.
(01:51):
And last night is he really is remarkable. But when
you really really love a player, I love Derek Jeter,
I love John Elway, you know, I love certain acts.
I don't want to see him straight to you know,
rental video, the old term in their movie career. I
want to see clean endings. I want to see, like
you know, Martin Scorsese, the direct director direct every three
(02:14):
years have a great film.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
The Irishman.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Spielberg still feels like he's in his prime, as Primes
lasted forever. Yeah, but it's like, you know, every couple
of years do a great film. You don't have the
energy when you get older or whatever. It's like when
you really love people. I like nice, clean endings. I
don't want an Elvis ending or a Marlon Brando ending.
And so I think this should be Lebron's last year.
He's still like a top fifteen sixteen player. He still
has moments. I went and saw him in Chicago. He
(02:38):
literally was the best player on the floor, and then
Luca was the best player after that, and Luke ended
up with like forty some points. But here was Lebron
on becoming the oldest player to ever have a triple
double last night, and it went over the mav I've never.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
Been sorry at basketball. So yeah, I've been good ever
since I started playing it. Any given night like a
finding to turn it on.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I could turnament all.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
The fact that you can go out and be able
to have an impact in three fasceted game, you know, rebound,
and this obviously is what I love the most being
able to get my guys.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Involved throughout my career.
Speaker 5 (03:16):
I've always loved that morning anything, and I'm being up
with the ball in the basket obviously that's that's part of.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
His game as well. Yeah, and he can still do that.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
And I have no idea if he's going to retire,
but it does feel like it would be. I think
John Elway could have played another year. Jeter probably could have.
Brady certainly could have three years after his retirement.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Who knows. If Lebron plays, he'll be good.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
But when you really like a director, an actor, and athlete,
I just like cleaner endings. So the NBA is, and
I don't want to overstate this, because every time the
NFL season ends, we start paying more attend baseball hasn't started.
We start paying more attention to the NBA. And I
(03:57):
feel like there's a month it's like mid February, mid March.
All we do is crap on the NBA and the
playoffs will be amazing.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
They always are. But when Bill Simmons.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Comes out and I think it's something I cause I
talk about this a lot the business side of sports.
It's like, is Adam Silver the right guy. The tankings
feels like it's really bad. The load management's almost comical.
And with that, Ethan Strauss, one of the best substacks
out there, House of Strauss, NBA Warriors and Culture podcasts,
is joining us. So listen. Tanking's been going on forever.
(04:29):
I said about an hour ago with David Stern, you
had it. But Stern was an ominous, threatening, loud presence,
and like he would call gms and coaches and players,
and you know, he was brutal. He wouldn't apologize. Adam
Silver more pleasant, and I think at times it feels
like star players take advantage of Adam Silver. Do you
(04:52):
have a belief Ethan, on how to fix the tanking problem?
Speaker 6 (04:58):
I do, and I have to disagree with you right
off the bat. I don't think tanking has been a
problem forever. I think there's a time when you were
an NBA fan when it wasn't And sometimes the old
ways work better than some of these crazy, big brained
ideas I'm seeing floated around out there.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
The NBA used to do it this way.
Speaker 6 (05:19):
If you missed the playoffs, you had an equal chance
as every other lottery team to win the lottery. Now
some people might say that's not fair. You know that
you're the worst team and you get the thirteenth pick
or whatever. But guess what, I don't think we want
to reward losing to such a degree and let's just
do on the one hand, on the other hand, right
(05:40):
on the one hand, maybe the worst team in the
league gets the eleventh or twelfth pick and they stay bad.
On the other hand, we have what we have now,
which is a third of the league intentionally losing for months.
I would say that outcome is worse, and I would
say go back in time. The league made a mistake
in the past when they flipped out out after Orlando
(06:01):
got consecutive number one picks and they got Shack and
they got Penny Hardaway. You know the funny thing about
that is the owners freaked out. That was objectively great
for the NBA. That was a charismatic team. If that's
the bad outcome, I mean, I think that they made
a huge mistake way back when I think return to
the old days. You make the playoffs, you get a
(06:22):
bigger playoff share to incentivize making the playoffs. You miss
the playoffs. Everybody's got the same long shot. Do it
that way, get rid of all this tanking the All
Star Game, and further record in fairness. The Pro Bowls unwatchable.
The only All Star game that's any good is baseball.
I do think we've moved into a time now. The
All Star Game in baseball was great because you didn't
(06:43):
see all these players and all these games. Now that
I can watch any team anytime, even the Baseball All
Star Game doesn't feel as big. It's good, it's the best,
but it doesn't feel as great. Pro Bowls unwatchable and
was for years the NBA All Star Game. Listen, could
I say this the players they're so rich now they
just want time off. It's not solvable. Or do you
(07:04):
have a way to fix the NBA All Star Game.
I do have a way to fix the NBA All
Star Game, but I don't think it's ever going to
be implemented.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
And no, it's not Nick Wright's idea.
Speaker 6 (07:16):
Our guy Nick writes idea to have the black guys
play the white guys, which that will never be implemented.
But that would be interesting. That would be interesting. I
guess the first thing I would say about it is this,
the NBA's general problem with Adam Silver is doing too much.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
It's doing too much the NBA.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
It's like a celebrity that gets so many plastic surgeries,
a good looking celebrity that you go, I don't even
recognize this. So the first thing I do to the
All Star Game is stop with all the crazy reforms.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
I don't even know what this thing is right now.
Where there's a round robin.
Speaker 6 (07:50):
You know, before they had the players pick the guys,
they have the elam ending.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Here's a crazy idea.
Speaker 6 (07:56):
You get the most popular players from the Eastern Conference
and they play the most popular players in the Western Conference.
It's something that makes sense to my dad. It's something
I can explain to my son, Well, how do you
get them to try hard? That's the thing everybody's thinking
about right now. You hear about money. The All Star
Game is not about money, It's about status. What I
(08:17):
think should happen and that Adam Silver will never do
is he chooses the players. He makes the selection based
on what he's seen in the popularity. And if you
dog it, if you loaf, well guess what, maybe you're
not getting invited to next season's All Star Game because
the players they might not care about trying in the
(08:38):
All Star Game.
Speaker 4 (08:39):
But they care about being an All Star.
Speaker 6 (08:42):
They care about having that designation, and when Hall of
Fame voting happens, that's something that they want on their mantle.
So if you have a little bit of that incentive
of the commissioners choosing the guys, we're choosing the twelve
best entertainers in our sport on each team, and if
you're not going to be an entertain for our sport,
you're not showing up. I think that's enough incentive not
(09:04):
to try to the point where you might get yourself hurt,
but at least not to dog it, not to loaf,
not to launch from.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Fifty feet away. That's what I would do. Always have
great ideas. Okay, so you know, I mean, you really
covered the Warriors forever. You wrote a book about it,
The Victory Machine, The Making and Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty.
I've always felt you should love your kids like your
superstar players. The Warriors fell in love with Steph Curry
(09:32):
and they've tried to make everything work through that ecosystem.
And the truth is young players can't play with current
Steph Curry's offense. It hasn't worked. And now they're old
and slow and small, and it's just like if he's
not on the floor, it's hard to watch. So the
Kaminga story is one and I talked about this two
days ago. I was never I've never been a G
League fan, especially G League ignite. Scoot Henderson, Jalen Jalen
(09:57):
the Kid, Jalen Green, and Kamingo got our G League ignite.
I would call it G League ignore. It was overstated,
none of that. There's never been a great player from
G League. You don't get the coaching, you don't get
the marketing, you don't get the development. And I think
college basketball shouldn't be demonized. That being said, clearly, Kaminga,
(10:20):
as he improved as a player, played less under Kerr.
So I mean it's like you would think he starts here,
but the last three years it's like it's fewer games,
it's fewer minutes.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
He's in the doghouse. What do you make of it?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
They all say nice stuff, Curse has nice stuff on
the way out, but like, what happened?
Speaker 6 (10:39):
Do you believe? Okay, So when you started with the
parenting analogy, I thought it was going to be about Kminga,
because Cominga reminds me of something I try to tell
my son all the time, which is the Roman proverb.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Before you can lead, you must follow.
Speaker 6 (10:57):
And so I'm reading these reports by Anthony and other
people that Kminga's offended that Kerr wanted him to be
an Aaron Gordon or as Sean Marrian.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
Well, guess what.
Speaker 6 (11:08):
In the NBA, before you get to be what you
want to be, you've got to build a basis of
what the coach needs you to be. It's not a charity.
The coach needs to win. And afterwards you can build
out your game. You can be more than useful to
your coach, but it's got to start with useful to
your coach. And I think a lot of these guys okay,
(11:29):
So here's something I was told last time I was
at Summer League because I was asking is the big
money screwing these guys up?
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Because there's so.
Speaker 6 (11:36):
Much money in the league, and somebody who's in ownership
told me, no, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
The big money's not screwing up the guys who get it.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
It's screwing up the guys who don't, the young guys
like Kuminga who feel, hey, I'm just as good as
this guy getting crazy money. In the new CBA structure,
it's haves and have not, so if you're on the
outside looking in, it creates this dynamic where I think
I'm a superstar already. I want the money already. It's
right there. And a lot of guys, a lot of
(12:04):
young guys, I think, are forgoing the process. And that's
what that G League Knight thing was all about. It
was guys who wanted to be a superstar right now,
as opposed to paying dues, as opposed to getting through
their paces.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
And I would say one more thing.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
I'm not saying Steve Kerr is perfect, but I do
think he's had a good track record on this. We
can say Steve Kerr doesn't develop young talent, and I
would say, well, who's the young guy who left the
Warriors and flourished? Who was he wrong about? Is Patrick
McCaw putting up any triple doubles anywhere? He's been correct
about these guys for the most part. I just don't
(12:40):
think he's had the horses.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Yeah, I don't think Kamnga ever developed a three point shot.
He's up and down in the interior, he's allows he
rebounder I think Kerr knows that he got frustrated with
a player who didn't grow and develop. You know, people
by now know, you know the redemptive arc of Sam Darnold.
And I think every year we learn things in pro sports,
(13:03):
and we'll see it with Mendoza in with the Raiders.
He's gonna get beat up. He's gonna lose a lot
of games. He's gonna throw a lot of picks. And
I do think I will be and I think I
try to do this all the time, is let's not
bail on young people. Young people's success is largely beholden
to who are their bosses, And when you get to
be forty or fifty, y're established. You know, Tom Brady
(13:25):
by the end in Tampa, guys, I'm gonna run the offense.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
So I don't really care.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Is there anything that jumped out to you on Sam
Donald that maybe hadn't been said, or how did through
your prism, how did you view it?
Speaker 6 (13:38):
Well? I know you love Sam Donald, so I don't
want to denigrate him and say that he didn't turn
into some great player. But I think Sam Donald's average,
and I think that's okay, and I think that's what
my lesson was on this whole thing. He played really
well against the Rams. I thought he was okay in
the Super Bowl. The advanced stats say that he was
pretty average. And maybe the lesson is that we overrate
(14:01):
the quarterback because this isn't the NBA. We act like
it's the NBA and you're one of five guys if
you're a superstar.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I mean, that just means so much.
Speaker 6 (14:09):
I feel as though the Bills get overrated every year
for their playoff chances because people act as though Josh
Allen's greatness can overcome a talent deficit. And so I
think the lesson with Sam Darnold is perhaps we might
even make too big a deal of the surrounding weapons
quarterbacks have on offense and not a big enough deal
about all the other help that allows them to win.
(14:32):
If you've got the best defense and a good running game,
as the Seahawks had, that goes a long way.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You can win with an average quarterback.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
We say, hey, this guy's not a super Bowl level quarterback.
I think a super Bowl level quarterback is just a
guy who's competent. I think we saw this super Bowl,
and I think we saw it last super Bowl with
Jalen Hurts when we were trying to make him out
to be somebody that he wasn't.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
He was fine.
Speaker 6 (14:58):
And that's the lesson in the NFL. You can win
with a quarterback who's fine. It doesn't have to be Mahomes.
You just have to be great at the other stuff.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
I like that take.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
I don't have to agree with it, but I like it.
I was saying this Ethan Ethan Strauss joining us for
the radio audience.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Check him out.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
House of Strauss is probably my favorite podcast I listened
to on a regular basis. I was saying on Lebron,
I don't want I didn't like the way MJ's career ended.
I love the way it ended for Jeter, Kobe's last game,
John Elway, I don't want my actor to end like
Marlon Brando, my musician, and like Elvis. Lebron is still
(15:36):
very good two and a half three minutes left in
the game. Because his lack of stamina late, he's not
the defensive player. I don't trust him at the free
throw on in big spots. He's still a top fifteen
to twenty player, but I wouldn't take him over like
right now, Kawhi late in the game, Jokic, Wemby, SGA
and all that. I think it's the perfect time to go.
(15:56):
We have great memories. It's amazing. He doesn't need the money.
How do you think the Lakers ends?
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Andy? Does it matter to It won't hurt Lebron's.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Legacy, But would you prefer a clean ending? If the
Lakers are like, you know, we're not bringing it back.
How do you think it ends and how do you
want it to end?
Speaker 6 (16:19):
I believe the story is kind of run out, and
you're already seeing signs of it. I know you famously
talked about worrying when a guy gets really into golf.
I saw it reported that Lebron got a track man.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
In his house. For people who don't know what that is.
That's this thing that.
Speaker 6 (16:37):
Shows you exactly how hard and where you're hitting a
golf ball and how you're hitting a golf ball. That's
often a sign that the mind is on something other
than the hard woods. So it almost seems like he's
spiritually he's spiritually removed from it. But then you've got
this other thing happening, which, again, the money is so big.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
I'm not saying Lebron's motivated by money.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Clearly has a ton of money, but it has gotten
to this point column where you're walking away from you know,
sixty seventy million dollars a year.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
That's that's not nothing.
Speaker 6 (17:09):
So I kind of wonder with some of these older players,
some of these millennial players in the NBA, if they're
all going to stick around a little too long, because
it's hard to walk away from this amount of money,
and it's already hard to just see goodbye to the
sport that you're used to.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
So I think that one's tough.
Speaker 6 (17:26):
I'd expect him to at least do another year, get
the farewell tour.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Lebron likes attention, that's my expectation.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
I think it would be better and cleaner of the
in it now, like you said, but I think we're
getting at least one more season.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Oh I you know, I didn't have this written down,
or maybe I did. I love your Macro take on this.
So if the Dodgers, My take is the outrage for
the Dodgers signing Kyle Tucker is based on the Dodgers
winning Game seven and they start now they're stacking trophies
in succession. We don't like that, we didn't love the
(18:01):
tush push. It was outrageous and needed to be banned.
And then the Eagles went belly up this last year,
and nobody cares about the tush push, right. They weren't
as good at it. The team isn't as good. We
don't like separation. We watched dynasties, but sometimes we resent them.
And my take is the Kyle Tucker, who the Cubs
(18:22):
couldn't get rid of fast enough, drew all this outrage.
The Yankees and the Mets and the Blue Jays are
often outspending the Dodgers, but the Mets aren't run well,
the Yankees don't care as much, and the Blue Jays
don't have a title, and that A lot of this
with the Dodgers isn't the spending. It's that now that
(18:43):
they've put him back to back, Kyle Tucker, who's not
but Milkie Betts, who's not Freddy Freeman, who's not close
to Otani. We're bothered by the titles, not necessarily the acquisition.
And I don't think baseball should have a salary cap. Mets, Cub, Astros, Dodgers, Podres,
they're all interesting. Small market Seattle, Cleveland, interesting. Where do
(19:06):
you land on this labor stoppage that is imminent because
of the Kyle Tucker siding.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
I'm one hundred percent with you on this, and it
reminds me of something from my career as a beat writer.
People they almost forget about this, But do you remember
when the Warriors added to Marcus Cousins one summer and
how everybody flipped out. Indeed, it inspired the NBA owners
(19:35):
to restructure the CBA to punish the Warriors and prevent
this stacking of talent. You know what DeMarcus Cousins did
for the Warriors, absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing. He frustrated Steve
Kerr even more than Jonathan Kaminga. It wasn't anything for them,
But because of that impression that they were unbeatable and
had such a massive edge, people flipped out about it.
(19:58):
And I think it's the same with the I think
it's been great for baseball that the Dodgers are a
recognizable brand.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
And that they've been winning.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
And I don't think that their victory is as assured
as people think it is. Baseball still got a lot
of randomness, a lot of randomness. They almost lost that
game seven, like you said, and look, I think it's
better for the MLB that the Dodgers are competitive than
these weird world series like the Rangers versus the Diamondbacks.
With apologies to fans of those teams, I think it's
(20:27):
been great for the MLB. And this is one of
these situations to bring this whole conversation full circle, like
when the NBA screwed up their whole draft lottery system,
where the petty resentments of owners get in the way
of the.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Best product for everybody.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
And for the fans. Ethan Strauss. He does such a
great job as Substack. Read that every time one's out
his podcast. The House of Strauss covers everything big thinker
and football season's over, we have to work a little harder.
There's not as much juice out there in material and content.
Your stuff remains just viable and interesting and good scenior again.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Oh great, senior, Colin love being here.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
All right, Ethan Strauss. Who if I'm going to go
on a forty five minute walk. That's one of the
podcasts I put in always makes me think, Yeah that
the baseball thing pitchers catchers report this week Dodgers today
is I remember the DeMarcus Cousin signed with the Warriors,
and it's all this. Listen right now. The Yankees are relevant,
the Mets are relevant, the Phillies are relevant, the Cubs
(21:30):
are relevant, the Dodgers are relevant, the Podreys are relevant.
The Astros, if they're healthy, will be in small market
Cleveland and small market Seattle, though though I don't think
of Seattle a small market. We're excellent last year, and
I could be wrong on this one. In Baltimore really good.
You know, everybody looks at well, what about Saint Louis, Well,
the economy in Saint Louis has died.
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Is that LA's fault.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
You don't build leagues to protect the bottom eight teams.
You should build teams for the middle class and above.
And like networks, ESPN and Fox have no responsibility or
NBC to air the bottom twelve teams. The television ratings
are up nationally. Why because you're airing these really stacked,
(22:13):
excellent teams. So, for the record, Milwaukee was great last year,
Seattle was great last year, Cleveland was great. Last year,
Big market DC wasn't. The Mets underwhelmed. So it's and
there's also, as Ethan said, there's so much randomness in baseball.
Dodgers couldn't keep pitchers healthy for two years, and if
(22:34):
not for Dave Johnson in one of the craziest games
evers ever, pulling every right lever I mean substituting, you know,
an infielder who hadn't been hitting. Dave Roberts excuse me,
I mean literally, Dave Roberts pulled every stink and lever
in Game seven, and they all just.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Happened to work. There was a randomness to it.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
That's why the Dodgers were the World Series because and
I think if Dodger fans were truly honest, the more
consistent team at the plate was Toronto. I mean, for
a lot of that series, I felt Toronto was the
better team. When I had runners on or big spots
at the plate, I trusted Toronto's bats more than I
did the Dodgers. And it just so happens the randomness
(23:22):
kind of worked in the Dodgers favor.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
One more Heard the Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search her
to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Sote gots here.
Speaker 7 (23:37):
I have a podcast empire. It continues to grow, and
I have brought it here to iHeart. I'm also doing
a live radio show from three to five pm Eastern because.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
My wife wanted to kick me out of the house.
Speaker 7 (23:49):
It's called Stegatzi Company Live, which is available in podcast
form right when the show finishes every single day. Some
of the biggest names in sports, a lot of phone calls.
Speaker 8 (24:01):
I love you guys, your show, it's one of my favorite.
Speaker 7 (24:03):
A lot of interact guys not taking themselves too seriously.
Those are just some of the things that you can
expect from Stu Gottson Company and Steve Gotson Company Live.
So listen to Steve Gotson Company Live and our original podcast.
Please subscribe, rate and review Stu Gotson Company, and God
Bless Football Taylor's livelihood depends on it. Do it today
(24:26):
and you can check all of those out on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
All right, welcome that Julian Edelman is going to be
joining us last hour here on a Friday. It is
Valentine's Day tomorrow, so I will have I'll play matchmaker.
I'm cupid cowherd around here, so I'm gonna play match
maker before the end of the hour on NFL team
looking for quarterbacks and the current available quarterbacks. I think
(25:04):
the mac Jones situation with the Niners is fascinating. I
think to myself, if I'm the Colts, do I want
to go after mac Jones? But the Colts gave up
two first for Sauce Gardner, and I don't want to
give up more draft capital when I may need to
get another quarterback in next year's draft. So I'm going
to give you the teams looking for a quarterback and
some of the quarterbacks I think would fit with the team.
(25:25):
What would I do as the matchmaker between quarterback and team?
The Steelers are an interesting one, the Vikings, the Colts,
the Jets, the Browns, the Cardinals, the Dolphins. I think
there's a way to go about this with an eye
on the future in most cases.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
Here is John Middlecoff with the.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
News on the news.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
This is the herd Line News.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Okay, Colin.
Speaker 8 (25:49):
With free agency right around the corner, get ready to
hear a lot about AJ Brown.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
And his trade status.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (25:56):
He obviously let his frustrations be known all season, and
a recent report indicates that Philly will entertain a trade
offer for the three time Pro bowler. And Jason Kelsey
even spoke to Brown's frustration and how he can be
a detriment to the offense.
Speaker 9 (26:12):
I think there's got to be a reason that Aj
is well liked in the building by coaches and players.
He's well respected. I think part of it is that
he's a great player, and you know, teammates want him
there and know that he can be a dominating force
for them. But you know, those frustrations. He's just the
unfortunate player who allows his internal frustrations to manifest into
(26:35):
his play, and it makes him play worse, It makes
the offense worse, and it makes his energy worse.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
No, I think that's a good way to put it.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Like some guys can contain it, to compartmentalize it. AJ
Brown's probably not that guy, you know, I.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Think I guess I would ask you this.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
I think there's a chance the Eagles unravel this year
a little bit. Last year, we didn't know they weren't
gonna win until they didn't win, because they would have
these halves of football and they kept winning a lot
of close games. I kind of think it's gonna unravel
this year. Sirianni hurts AJ Brown, and they'll be moves,
do you well.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
I mean, I don't know, unraveled.
Speaker 8 (27:17):
Because the GM's so good, they'll be talented, but they
got a lot of question marks.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
AJ Brown's gone. He's gonna be traded here in a
couple of weeks.
Speaker 6 (27:24):
Right.
Speaker 8 (27:24):
Unofficially, AJ Brown will not be back on the team.
Lane Johnson reports he might retire. Landon Dickerson pro bowler
might retire. Did you see the guy they hired to
be their offensive coordinator? He's never called plays, so this
is not one of those. You know, Kellen Moore had
been a play caller for a long time in Dallas, right,
Shane Stiken was a rising star. Philip Rivers was telling
everyone that would listen that years ago. You know, you go,
(27:46):
Sean Manning this new quarterback or I mean new coordinator.
You just never know. We saw with Brian Johnson, we
saw last year with Kevin Patola, who's Sirianni's guy. I
think the AJ Brown situation to me, you know, he
makes thirty two million dollars, Colin, look at the drafts.
You could find a guy for a million bucks and
gave me seventy five catches A j last year has
(28:08):
seventy eight catches, so I'm gonna trade. You know, people
are the Patriots. Patriots are gonna trade their second round pick.
They just made it a Super Bowl for a guy
making thirty two million dollars. I'd be stunned, you know.
I think his value and I'm pro aj Brown. He's
a very talented player. I think his value, though, is
going to shock people when who they have one of
the best gms. He's great at making trades, but I
don't think it's gonna be easy for him just to
(28:29):
get like, you know, pick forty for AJ Brown.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
I think those days have passed interesting, you know.
Speaker 8 (28:35):
Speaking of troublesome wide receivers, George Pickens, he obviously had
a great first year in Dallas.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
But he already could be on his way out.
Speaker 8 (28:43):
Reports indicate the Cowboys expected to franchise him this offseason.
They could then return, turn around and trade him for
a second round pick.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
I don't know about you, Colin. I don't see any
team in the.
Speaker 8 (28:55):
League trading if they franchised twenty eight million dollars and
then trading Jerry a second round pick, I don't see
that one happening.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Well, I think we know the one position where college
players can come right in and have immediate impact as
wide receiver. I think Dak has shown an ability to
work with Amari Cooper and Ceedee Lamb and tight ends.
I think Dak. I think they've got Ryan Floornoy is
an interesting player. I think Ceedee Lamb's an absolute legit
(29:22):
number one. I think they're going to draft fairly early
at tight end. I just I wouldn't do it, you know.
I think what happens sometimes Jerry the GM and I
think this happens in all businesses. You make choices to
validate earlier decisions. And they gave up a third I
think did they give up a thirty fifth? Yeah, and
(29:42):
it's like, okay, now they feel like they have to
sign him, and and I get that. So that's you know,
they're they're going to validate their earlier decision and pay him.
But I've got two examples last year for a stretch
in Dallas and at Pittsburgh, and for the record, there
were red flags out of Georgia that he can be
a bit disruptive. So I thought he had a great year,
(30:06):
but I would struggle to pay him big money.
Speaker 8 (30:09):
Yeah, I think the Cowboys are probably committed on this
Jared's proven. You know, Micah Parsons is kind of the
outlier situation where he pivoted. I think they'll go all
in that. You know, they're paying dact big money. Listen,
if they can keep him on the straight and arrow,
there is no uh, it'd be hard to argue that
their offense wouldn't have a chance to be one of
the best in the league if George is playing well. Okay,
(30:30):
Colin last, but not least, the Rams and the Seahawks.
They went head to head three times last season, played
some great games, and the Seahawks obviously went on to
win it all.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
But Jared Verse spoke to how he feels about their
rivals up North.
Speaker 10 (30:48):
I genuinely like, I don't like them. I'd like, I
got like a disdain in my heart for them, like
I hate them, Like I don't like the Seahawks, Like
there's nothing I like about them. I don't like their players,
there's nobody I like about their stat I don't like them.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
I think that's incredibly realistic and healthy, and I'm glad
that he I'm glad he went out there, and I
think that's I think that for the next year or
two will probably be the best rivalry in the sport.
Speaker 8 (31:12):
Well, you know what's funny, Colin is forever is the
Steelers against the Ravens. Yes, and then some of the
NFC East, you know with the Eagles and the Giants
and the Cowboys. Over the years, you could argue the
three teams in the NFC West, I mean, the Niners
of Seattle have been rivals since Harbon Peete got there.
Now Seattle with Mike McDonald going at this defensive mind
going up against McVay and Shanahan, you kind of have
(31:34):
a three way rivalry because the Niners don't like Seattle
or LA LA doesn't like San Francisco, and now them
and Seattle.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
Are at each other.
Speaker 8 (31:40):
Odds, it doesn't even matter that the Cardinals aren't that good.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
You got those three teams that are three of the
better teams in the league.
Speaker 4 (31:47):
It is.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
It's interesting about I mean you just go to like
a replay here or a replay there, and the Rams
were in the Super Bowl and they would have beaten
New England or the Seahawks, like the Seahawks Super Bowl.
That's a really really good team. But you go back
to those Ram games and Matt Stafford multiple times walked
up and down the field against the Seahawks defense, and
(32:08):
so I kind of feel like like everybody else did that.
As great as the Seahawks team is and the story is,
the reality is it could have just as easily. If
you don't get this replay overturned or this call, it
could have been a Ram Super Bowl. There is such
a thin line between what Seattle and the Rams and
the Niners produced. Niners had really unforeseen injuries, but I mean,
(32:32):
I would argue that the Rashid Shaheed, the special teams
for Seattle eventually sort of catapults them slightly ahead of
the Rams.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
That's about it, Colin.
Speaker 8 (32:42):
Even the Rams winning the Super Bowl this year, which
was on the table, what about last year when they
were a couple of plays away from beating the Eagles,
Then they would have played the Commanders, who they would
have killed. They would have had a one game situation
against a pretty flawed Chiefs team.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
So mcveigh's probably lost some sleep the last couple of
years knowing he could have a couple more rings.
Speaker 5 (32:57):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
John Middlecoff with the New Well.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
That's the news, and thanks for stopping by the herd
Line News.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yeah, the Julian Edelman Last Hour, Ethan Strauss This Hour.
It's this has always been an interesting week. This week
and next week have always been really interesting weeks to
be a talk show host because this wildly popular sport.
It's probably like the week after the Stanley Cup in
Canada or the week after like the English Premier League.
(33:26):
You know the championship has been settled, you get this
sort of oh, everybody takes a deep breath, and we
all kind of beat up on the NBA here for
about a week before it goes into the All Star Game.
Ethan Strauss, I thought was really good on it is.
I do think the playoffs will be excellent. I mean,
and the money the NBA made with their last deal
(33:47):
is substantial. But I think the NBA should not look
at the NFL. I think the NBA should look at baseball.
And baseball's had a two and a half three year
renaissance because of tweaks, and I contend it's too repetitive.
There's too many threes.
Speaker 6 (34:05):
You know.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
My feeling on that, I would take the three point
arc and move it into the bench. I would not
allow these corner threes. It would force players to defend
the three ball more from the arc. Centers would still
be would not have to leave the circle. Therefore there'd
be more collisions at the rim, more physicality. It would
(34:27):
be harder to get open threes on the arc, and
it would become more of a situational get a bucket,
get a stop league, which I think the playoffs become.
And it's much better to watch playoff basketball than regular
season three point shooting contests. Also, I don't know what
exactly to do with the tanking. Ethan Strauss had his opinion,
but I do think the NBA is making a lot
of money and the playoffs are really really exciting. I
(34:49):
don't know about shortening the league. I mean they're playing
two games a week. I think it's fine. Oh what
about all the injuries. I think they could play through
a lot of these injuries. I do, I really do.
I think a lot of this stuff is sort of
managing for the postseason where the game gets more physical.
But I think the NBA, between the money, between their
(35:10):
social relevance and between playoff basketball, I think it's fine.
I don't think the trajectory though going forward is as
promising as baseball. It's not as popular as the NFL,
and I just read a Pete Tamil story this morning
about college football potentially expanding the playoff in college football
the twenty four teams, which would make the committee much
less relevant, which I would like. I don't know if
(35:31):
I like twenty four teams, but I feel like baseball's
moving up, NFL's moving up. College basketball ratings have been great,
College football ratings were great. I don't know if the
NBA's in that space. They got their money, they got
their bag. Doesn't feel like it's as tight as it
needs to be.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
There's just too many lingering issues here. Stupid Cowherd.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
I'll be a matchmaker quarterbacks that are available and teams
that need them.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
That is next.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 8 (36:15):
App Fox College Hoops Friday is Tom Izzo's tenth rated
Michigan State squad taking on Nick Boyd in Wisconsin tonight
at eight eastern on Fox.
Speaker 4 (36:28):
Well.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
As many of you know, I am a hopeless romantic.
I'm gonna play. Valentine's Day is tomorrow. I'm gonna play
matchmaker teams that need a quarterback and quarterbacks who are available.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
John, set me up. Here we go on the eve
of Valentine's Day.
Speaker 8 (36:45):
Okay, Colin, who are you pairing with Kevin O'Connell and
the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Well, the Vikings are ready to win now with their personnel.
I would go get Aaron Rodgers. Aaron, will you be
my schoolmate? I think it works. First of all, all
JJ McCarthy's going into year three. It is beyond durability issues.
It's little stuff, it's big stuff. You can't depend on him.
You got Justin Jefferson, an elite left tackle. Minnesota's got
(37:12):
good players, an excellent head coach. Minnesota's got an elite
defensive coordinator. By the way, Chicago's getting better, Green Bays better,
the Lions solved their offensive coordinator issues. You could be
in fourth place very quickly with another JJ McCarthy injury.
Speaker 4 (37:28):
I'd go get.
Speaker 8 (37:29):
Aaron Okay, Colin, new GM, new coach, who are repairing
with the Dolphins.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
I would retain. I would stay with Tua for one
more year. He's under contract. Nobody's gonna buy it out.
It's sort of fantastic, right for a year. He's got
he's got an out after next season. The Dolphins can
go big game hunting in a year. But John, he's
good enough to win games.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Now.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
There's limitations on the market he has. There's a new GM.
There's no reason to commit unless you could get a
Fernando Mendoza. There's no real reason that Stephen Ross in
this organization could commit. They have some roster rebuilding to
do before they worry about the quarterback. To is expensive,
he doesn't have a market. I'd stay with him.
Speaker 8 (38:17):
Okay, we have a new sheriff in town. Who are
we pairing with the Steelers?
Speaker 1 (38:22):
Okay, this one makes sense to me. I would go
get Malik Willis. Okay, McCarthy has a connection to Green Bay.
He's going to have intel. Also, the Steelers need to
get younger and more athletic.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
Molik Willis.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
I mean, there are people in the building and people
out of the building that are saying he's better than
Jordan Love. I don't think so, but he is electric.
He played very well in Green Bay. McCarthy has a
history of getting the best out of quarterbacks despite the
criticism he gets. He's got that connection. I mean, let's
face it with Aaron. Aaron did the best job possible.
(38:57):
But do you really think Aaron and Mike McCarthy, I
mean McCarthy's went and hired a new staff. One of
them doesn't really see eye to eye with Aaron. It
doesn't feel like an ideal fit. I think Malik Willis
works for me.
Speaker 8 (39:08):
Okay, Colin, this could be a team fresh off of
divorce looking for love who repairing with the Cardinals?
Speaker 4 (39:14):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
I think Kyler Murray has served his time. There's not
a good vibe with ownership and Kyler Murray. I like him,
I'm in the minority. I would move him out and
eat his contract. I would go do what Sean Payton
and the Denver Broncos did. I would eat the contract.
They just wanted Russell Wilson out of the building. We're
going to reach a little bit on bow Nicks. It
was viewed as a reach by many in the league.
(39:36):
I would not take Ty Simpson from Bama at three.
I would trade down to ten, eleven, twelve. I'm much
more comfortable if I can accumulate more picks. Okay, if
I can get a fourth or a fifth and move
down from three to ten or twelve, then I'll reach
on Ty Simpson. And for the record, you got a
(39:58):
young offensive coach to webe Brissette. He may not be
able to beat him out, but you'll know in a
year from practice and some play whether you should go
for another quarterback or.
Speaker 4 (40:09):
Keep the kid.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
But if you think he's got the ability to be
your starter, get him in house. Former Rams assistant, work
on him for a year.
Speaker 4 (40:18):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
It's not a great situation, but I do think occasionally
with Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray, and this has happened before.
I think it's just time the locker room needs to
be cleared. You eat the contract to Kyler for a year.
Speaker 8 (40:31):
Well, this is a team that once got famously left
at the altar right before the start of the season.
They've been looking for love ever since. Colin, who are
you pairing with the Colts?
Speaker 1 (40:39):
I think Riley Leonard let him play for a year.
I liked him more than most people out of Notre Dame.
He had one start last year. The Texans rested a
lot of starters. Shane Steichen will get the most out
of anybody.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
Now.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
They gave up first round picks for Sauce Gardner, so
I wouldn't be giving up picks to move up play
the kid. I don't want to commit long term to
Daniel Jones, who with the Jets. I would take Greg
Nessmeyer LSU quarterback in the second round. Not because I
think he's going to be amazing, but Justin Fields gets hurt.
This is going to be a terrible team. Whether he's
(41:11):
a starter or a backup. I think he's absolutely at
some point at least a spot starter or a bridge starter.
I'd get him in the building.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
Well, Cleveland ever find a quarterback.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
Well, let me be a matchmaker here. I Shade or
do love having you as a friend. I would keep
Shador Sanders. Why not they they're still stuck with the
Shawn Watson's contract. I think he's entertaining merch sales interest.
I like watching him play. I'd give him another year.
You're not a title team anyway. Strongest opinion on my
(41:42):
match mate.
Speaker 3 (41:43):
You know, I think you left out a name. Derek Carr.
Speaker 8 (41:46):
Rumors have been circulating about him making comeback. I think
he makes sense Minnesota, Indianapolis, two Dome teams. I mean
Aaron Rodgers. There's no guarantee. He might just stay in Malibu,
Colin work the Beaches. Derek Carr, Shanstike, and Kevin O'Connell.
I think he'd be an upgrade for both franchises. Inside
makes some sense to me.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
Good stuff.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
John Middlecoff, We had to hour number three on a Friday.
Julian Edelman, the three time Super Bowl chant, will stop
by Chicago's where we're at.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
It's the Herd.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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