October 13, 2020 • 40 mins
Colin's new Herd Hierarchy
Which teams would draft Trevor Lawrence?
Guest: Peter King
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on
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Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. It's hour two. We're
(00:25):
live in Los Angeles. This is The Herd. Wherever you
may be and however you may be listening. We're on
Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Peter King in about
ten minutes stops by. Joey Taylor is joining me. We
got a football tonight, Buffalo and Tennessee. Kind of a
coin flip game like both. Probably it's in Nashville, right, um,
(00:48):
maybe Tennessee close right, take to Tennessee. I bet I defeated. Yeah,
I bet the Chargers last night. A little money on
the Chargers. Well you got that at the end of
the game. Yeah, a little money. It's a little bit
and a little bit, no big deal. A couple of
margar readers from you and the wife later this week.
It was so it wasn't a dramatic bet, No No,
none of my bets for fifty bucks. I always feel
like if I win fifty bucks, I get dinner in
(01:09):
a cocktail for free. What was the last big bet
that you may Oh, I lost a lot of money.
It was an NFL bet. It was a poor decision
by me. Let me guess I bet Atlanta. I don't know. No, no, no,
it was on too long ago. Yeah, it was an
NFL bet. Nonsense. Sorry, yeah, I'm bringing up old stuff.
Slept on the steps that night. All right, here we
go the Herd hierarchy. Ten best teams in the NFL.
Let's not waste any time heard hierarchy. The top ten
(01:35):
NFL teams according to College Number ten Cleveland Browns Kevin
Stefanski is my early leader for Coach of the Year.
They finally got a smart coach who's a grown up,
very mature. I love what he's doing. They not only
lead the NFL in rushing, but they lead the NFL
in ten plus yard rushes, meaning that's a big play
(01:57):
rush offense. They'll hit you over the top as well.
By Ker Mayfield worries me, but he does have multiple
touchdowns in each game. I'll probably no more after this
weekend against Pittsburgh. But the Browns defense scares me on
the back end, but they have forced twelve turnovers this year.
Number one Baker worries me in big spots, but I
got Cleveland number ten. I loved their coach. Number nine
(02:19):
Pittsburgh Steelers. Listen there. You can't run on them. So
it's gonna be will versus force this weekend. Cleveland's run
game against Pittsburgh's run defense. Their upcoming schedule Browns and
Ravens will tell me a lot about Pittsburgh. I've still
got some doubts. They're only twenty fourth in the NFL
yards per play, Big Ben's not making mistakes seventy percent
(02:41):
completion rate. But the Steelers have beaten teams with a
combined record of three fifteen and one. They've beaten a
bunch of nonsense, and so I have my real doubts.
This weekend, I got him at nine, one spot ahead
of Cleveland, and I'm not sure if I voted on
this tomorrow, i'd feel the same. I think it's a
toss up with Cleve a little more explosive offensively. Number
(03:03):
eight Rams four, No, but it's against the NFC East.
They are beaten up in the Giants and the Cowboys
number one in yardage differential. That's a real thing, meaning
they are explosive. Their defense has the most sacks this year.
That was a real point of contention in the offseason.
We're not getting the quarterback. Todd Gurley's gone. They've done
(03:25):
a nice job. They got cam akers Henderson, they got
nice running backs. Now. I think it's a real good
room to be in. It's a good team going forward.
I think there's some limitations if Goff sends his pressure,
but the reality is Goff has won two games for
every game he's lost with Sean McVay and I got
the Rams at eight, number seven. Tampa Bay have some concerns.
(03:47):
Leonard Fournett still banged up, Chris Godwin's still out. I
would like to see this team when they're healthy. Against
Chicago they have oh you know, they've got their tight end,
best tight end out for the year. Furnet's on Godwin,
Mike Evans. Here's the good news. Love Todd Bulls the
defensive coordinator. They have the number one rushing defense in
the NFL, and Mike Evans when he's healthy. He and
(04:09):
Brady ever relationship right now. So this is a team
that should get better. But I keep mit seven because
they looked like garbage against the Bears. He got Brady
barking at people, and frankly, their protection wasn't very good.
Number six Buffalo Bills not much to dislike Josh Allen.
They have thirty plus points in each of their last
(04:30):
three games. I have them this low because coming up
they faced Tennessee, the Chiefs, the Patriots, and the Seahawks.
So I feel like in the next month I'm really
gonna get a sense of what they are. I have
said this before. I think it's the best young coaching
staff in the NFL. This is it that in the
forty nine ers, best young coaching staff in the NFL.
They've done a miraculous job with Josh Allen. But the
(04:51):
truth is the next three four games. Number five Patriots.
I would take the Patriots with Cam Newton over the
Bills this morning if they played. Still the coach team
in the league. Keep your eye on Damian Harris emerging
as a star at running back. The second best rushing
team after Cleveland, their defense has allowed one rushing touchdown.
Again with Cam, I think they're a nightmare to face.
(05:14):
I think they match up with Kansas City very well.
You know, our Kansas City is sort of Baltimore's kryptonite Belichick,
and this team with Cam Newton could possibly be Kansas
City's kryptonite. I think they would have beaten them. They
run the ball, They've got an emerging start at running back.
You can't run on them. And they're the best coach
team in the league. Number four, the Seahawks. It's mostly
(05:35):
on voting Russell Wilson fourth. It is a historically pathetic defense.
Now Jamal Adams has been banged up. They do at
Bobby Wagner and Jamal Adams, but if you look at
most games game winning drives in the first nine seasons
of the NFL, Russell Wilson is first all time. Now again,
(05:55):
they got to go to Buffalo and they got a
game against the Rams on the road, so we'll get
a little more clarity. But at this point, they've got playmakers.
Russell's a playmaker, Jamal Adams a playmaker. DK Metcalf's a playmaker,
Bobby Wagner's a playmaker. They've got flaws, but they've also
when you can get out played and win like they
did against Minnesota. That speaks well of you. They got
(06:16):
outplayed in one. Not a lot of teams in the
NFL can say that. Number three Ravens. I like them.
I think we're selling too much of our stock. Highest
yards per carry in the NFL. Again, that's very Cleveland.
They not only run the ball, but they'll pop runs.
This is an aggressive home run running game. They can
pop stuff. They lead in scoring defense. I thought last
(06:40):
week Lamar looked a little banged up, so I didn't
take a ton from last week's performance. So don't sell
your Ravens stock. If you're selling it, I'm buying it.
I got him at three. Number two. Kansas City is
number two. Listen, the loss of the Raiders snapped a
thirteen game winning streak. But I will say this about
this team. They can be maddeningly inconsistent, even offensively half
(07:03):
to half. They can have bad half bad series. They're
just not as consistent as i'd like. Offensively, they're there set,
they don't have a ceiling. I mean, when they're on
lights out, good night, thanks for flying United. But they
don't get to that point a lot. And I think
Gandy Reid's concern is, hey, we got to button up
some stuff. When we're great, nobody's beaten us, but we
(07:26):
have some real holes and real droughts, and they did
against the Raiders. Number one Green Bay. There's some really
interesting number numbers here. And he faces Brady this week,
but here's some numbers that you can't deny. They're averaging
six point eight yards of play. That is a Vegas number.
Vegas loves it. If you're averaging almost seven yards of play,
(07:49):
that's well, why are they doing it? The offensive line
is ranked number one in the NFL. Aaron hasn't thrown
a pick, they're not getting penalized, they're not turning the
ball over. I think the defense is probably a little
better than we give it credit four because Aaron is
so fantastic. We pay so much attention to Brett Farve,
but Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay's offense that their defenses
(08:11):
are rarely bad. I think it's a good, solid defense. Certainly,
there's some bad defenses in the NFC. I think Green
Bay's the best team right now. Fewest sacks allowed, no interceptions,
seven yards of play, a better defense, they're special. Teams
are reliable. If Davante Adams is healthy, and he's got
some injury history. I think it's I think it's a
(08:32):
super Bowl winning team. How about that? What do you
think they're joy I think Steelers fans are gonna be
upset with you. But Candy beaten awful teams. Yeah, so
it's interesting. So I have Pittsburgh at nine, Cleveland at ten.
It's a four four and a half point spread Fox Bet,
(08:54):
and this morning, I would take Cleveland to cover. I
would take the points. Now, you think Pittsburgh goold wins,
I think I think it's I think that game is
the best game of the weekend. I think it's twenty
four to twenty three. I think it's a great game. Yeah,
well you're right Packers. Okay, there's two great games. It's
it's Aaron Rodgers and Brady But I but the more
(09:15):
I think about that, I'll take Aaron Rodgers in that game.
I think Steelers Bounds will be the better game. I
think it's gonna be a well, not the better I misspoke.
Brady Rodgers is just gonna be all fireworks. Also, Chiefs
Chiefs Bills. There's a lot of good games this weekend.
So but again, four and a half points, I'll take
(09:37):
Cleveland as of this morning, I would take Cleveland to
cover that. Man, I was so off on Green Bay
this year. Yeah, they look great offensive line. I'll tell
you that. It's funny about teams. Pittsburgh's one of these organizations.
They just draft wide receivers and develop them. You know,
it's funny about this. I've talked to coaches about this.
I talked to a coach about this about a week ago.
You think that college footballs where you developed talent. You
(09:59):
got a high scho kid, you got to develop them
because the high school coach doesn't know what he's doing.
But the reality is in college you only get seventeen
hours a week to coach. That's what the nc Doublas says.
So the truth is in the NFL you get a
lot of gems, but they're raw. You've got to develop guys.
In the NFL there are teams. The Steelers develop wide
receivers better than anybody. And I've said this more than
(10:20):
once on this show. Green Bay who they develop offensive lines?
So when's the last time the Packers had a bad
old line? And they don't very rarely do they draft
first round. So green Bay's offensive line and that far
mostly had good old lines, Aaron's had mostly really high
end offensive lines. Dallas has drafted great offensive lineman. Can
they develop them? Because the chance of you getting Tyron
(10:43):
Smith again and Zack Martin Travis Frederick again having guys
that generationally good. Green Bay takes guys in the third
and fourth round and then become all pros. And teams
that develop their young players tend to be consistently good
year after year and competitive year after year and don't
have to go through full rebuilds. Also, teams that don't
(11:03):
develop players have to go through free agency over pay
for players, and free agency is historically about a thirty
five percent hit rate, So that the reason the Pittsburgh
and Green Bay are always good is not just Big
Ben and Aaron Rodgers. They develop their players. Packers once
again Pro Football Focus this morning. Best offensive line in
the league is the Green Bay Packers. Peter King's around
(11:26):
the corner coming up next. One more Herd. The Herd
streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week
within the iHeartRadio app, Search Herd to listen live or
on demand whenever you like. The National League Championship Series
continues today with Game two between the Braves and Dodgers.
Coverage begins at five pm Eastern two pm Pacific only
(11:47):
on FS one and the Fox Sports app now Joy.
You mentioned earlier Clayton Kershaw is a scratch today back spasms,
So good luck. Because Atlantic and Rake they got they
got all sorts of hitters. So this should be a
high scoring series. Why don't you get past your aces?
There should be there should be a lot of runs
in this series. Peter King loves his baseball as well
Football Morning in America joining us now Live and dcsports
(12:10):
dot Com. So I watched Justin Herbert last night, and
I gotta tell you, Peter, Josh Allen was kind of
a mess his first year. Mahomes got to sit and
watch his first year. This kid's played breeze. Brady Maholmes
led all of them in the fourth quarter. I think
we have a star. I mean, Peter, I don't mean
to be hyperbolic, but I watched him last night and
(12:32):
I that is what a star looks like to me.
What was your takeaway? I mean, what else can you
say other than he was the best quarterback on the
field and the other one was Drew Brees. And you know,
I mean, Breeze pulled it out of his hat late.
He just did. But if you ask me, you know,
(12:54):
for the length of the game, the best quarterback on
the field was justin Herbert and on the road. And look,
it's a big help to have no crowd there because
you know, clearly, you know, have no crowd in the
Superdome for a Monday night game or it would have
been absolutely bonkers. That's certainly helped him. But I think
(13:15):
he's terrific. And it's so impressive to me Colin that
if you look at the first pick in the draft
and the sixth pick in the draft, those are both quarterbacks,
and both of them look like top twelve, top fifteen
players pretty soon in their careers. And we haven't even
talked about the guy who one year ago today, one
(13:37):
year ago today, tu Watanga Valoa was even no doubt
number one pick in the draft one year ago today. Yes,
and he hasn't even seen he hasn't even touched the
field yet, and I still think he's gonna be really good.
So it's just it's crazy what's happening. Yeah, it's we're
really in the golden age of quarterbacks and there and
They're all great kids. Like one of the things I've
(13:58):
said that's about the NBA. In the NFL, we're so
lucky right now. You just have great, coachable kids. They
work hard. And we also have three college quarterbacks coming
out next year and they're all seen as A to
A plus prospects. And that leads me to this is
that Matt Ryan. I watched him Sunday. He's thirty six.
Arthur Blank's like, I'm going to start over. There's a
(14:21):
lot of these Matt Staffords, Matt Ryan's. They're Cape Kirk cousins.
And I gotta tell you, Peter, I watched Josh Allen,
I watched Lamar, I watch I watched these kids move
in the pocket. And I wonder if I'm Atlanta and
Atlanta goes out and gets a coach. I wonder if
after a year they just they make him in San
(14:44):
Francisco Garoppolo. It seems to meet Peter that the tank
for Trevor Lawrence. I'm not sure how many teams outside
of Baltimore, Green Bay, Seattle, Kansas City wouldn't take him.
What do you do with them, Matt Ryan and Matt Stafford.
If you can get a great young quarterback. What do
you do with them? I think the biggest problem you
have right now, Colin, is that if the Atlanta Falcons
(15:07):
choose to move on next year from Matt Ryan, it's
a forty nine million dollar cap hit. Right If they
choose to move on even two years from now, it's
a twenty six million dollar cap hit. And remember the
Caps won ninety eight this year, but the next year
it's going to be one seventy five, and there's a
good chance the year after that it'll be around one
(15:29):
seventy five two, So that you know, even twenty six
million for a well managed team is a gigantic pile
of dead money on your cap. And I look, I
know that Atlanta and Falcons fans are rapidly fallen out
of love with Matt Ryan, but as of right now,
(15:51):
really not much of a choice. The only choice that
you have, honestly is because Matt Ryan's a great guy.
The only choice you have right now is to basically
have a new guy come in and next year Ryan plays,
and then after that you'll let the best man win. Yeah. No,
I think that's what I would do if I could
get a justin Field or Trevor Lawrence. So I'll i'll
(16:12):
want to theorize something here. We mostly know who's rebuilding.
Washington's rebuilding, Giants are rebuilding, Jacksonville's rebuilding. Nobody would dispute that.
And then there's teams that are obviously are not rebuilding, Baltimore,
Green Bay. These are really good teams, really good rosters.
But then there are these teams in the middle that
don't want to admit it, but they are rebuilding. And
(16:34):
I'm gonna say this, Dallas is very interesting. I think
they're rebuilding. They don't want to admit it right now.
They've got an old offensive line and it's mediocre, an
old defensive line that's mediocre. They need a corner and
a safety, linebacker, they're very expensive right now, banged up,
and a tad overrated tight end. They're okay, not special
if you take out wide receiver that they don't need
(16:57):
that for the next two or three drafts. And running
back paulor to Zeeker good. And I think dak is
their future. Could I argue that we are just we
just don't understand. I watched the Giants in Dallas. That's
the same team. One has an offense, one has a defense,
Dallas is actually an a rebuild, I would say, Peter,
they just don't want to admit it publicly. Well, I mean,
(17:20):
you'd have to find out first about Lyelle Collins and
Tyron Smith. And I think Tyrn Smith, you're right, he's
been getting banged up. He's now obviously out for the year.
You have no idea what his future is. I'd want
to know that before I would say that in twenty
twenty one, I'm a rebuilding team because you have an
(17:43):
explosive offense. Teams are able. Look at Bill Belichick, he
is pieced together a defense without his you know, the
best guy on his front seven Dante Hai Tower, the
guy who might have played the best last year. Kyle
van Noy. He's missing all his good veterans, and yet
he pieces together a bunch of Lawrence guys and he
(18:05):
makes a really good defense. So I'm not sure that
defense is is hard to put together year to year,
as is a really good offense with a good quarterback.
To me, I still think they can be the best
in a bad division if Dak Prescott lines up opening
day next year in his hole. So I watched Russell
(18:28):
Wilson Sunday night and Aaron Rodgers, according to PFF, has
the best offensive line in the league and a better
defense than Russell Wilson. And you've talked to Russell Wilson
about this, I don't know who to compare him to.
They're five and oh right now, was statistically the worst
defense in league history, and Pete Carroll's supposed to be
a defensive maven, but they've let things slide up front. Defensively,
(18:51):
they had to kind of overpay to get Jamal Adams.
Is Seattle to you a super Bowl level team or
they just an unbelievably fascinating team to watch with a
superstar quarterback that will eventually be exposed because they're just
so many holes defensively. Do you look at them and
(19:12):
think super Bowl team? Or do you look at them
like I'm increasingly doing and saying no, Russell Wilson's the
greatest football player currently on the earth. The rest of
the team you could mostly have. How do you view
the Seahawks? I view that there's three events that I
want to see before I can definitively answer that question.
(19:34):
First event is Jamal Adams back in three to four weeks.
This team is going to make the playoffs. So is
Jamal Adams back and is he going to be what
they traded for? All right? Number two Damon Harrison snacks Harrison.
It's incredible that you've got a premier run player who's
(19:57):
just on the street, not sure whether he wants to
play or not, and you just pick them up basically
for nothing. And now I would say probably by the
end of this month he's going to be playing. Who
is he Is he a great run stopper still or
is he done? And the third thing I want to
see two weeks from now, when the trading deadline happens,
(20:20):
I want to find out what magic John Schneider can
pull because to me, there's going to be a bunch
of guys who can improve their pass rush that if
you're willing. If John Schneider is willing to touch his
two twenty two draft, he's already traded his first two
picks next year for Jamal Adams, and if he's willing
(20:41):
to touch his two or his three in two twenty two,
he should be able to get a player of some
value to help him this year. And that's what I
would like to see him do. Go get a pass
rusher at the trading deadline. Finally, Peter King joining US
Minnesota and the Niners is not quite as good as
I thought, though Minnesota has lost close games to good teams.
(21:02):
Pittsburgh and the Raiders are a little better than I thought.
The biggest surprise in the league to me to this
point because there's a lot of stuff that I thought.
I thought the NFC's was gonna be bad. I like
the Packers, Tampa Bay, Seahawks rams. I'm not shocked by
a lot of what's happened. I pick, I picked Cleveland
to be a playoff team. The shock of the league
to me is Josh Allen. I can't explain it. He
(21:24):
looks like a top five quarterback. That is my real
shock of the NFL season. Do you have one. I
love the Josh Allen pick because none of us knew
how much work he did in the offseason to make
himself better. With his own private quarterback coast Jordan Palmer,
and with Tony Romo being his Josh Allen whisperer this offseason,
(21:48):
he helped him out quite a bit. And that's why
he's better mechanically. That's why he's a much more accurate
passer and That's why he doesn't play the game like
he's Padro martine As, looking like he's got to throw
a hundred on every pitch to be successful. He isn't
that quarterback anymore. He's a guy who has developed more
of a touch and more of knowledge of how to
(22:11):
play the game. I love that pick. If you would
ask me, there's a very good chance I would have
said him, But I might have said one other thing.
I might have said how quickly? Both Justin Herbert and
Joe Burrow look like yeah and again, I know this
is gonna sound crazy. By December first, they both might
be in the top ten or twelve a quarterbacks in
(22:33):
this league. Now, it's gonna be hard. It's gonna be
hard to look at Joe Burrow because they're gonna be
losing games. The Cincinnati Bengals have to be willing to say,
all right, look at the trading deadline. We're gonna see
if we can get a bag of footballs for aj Green. Okay,
we have to move on from who what we thought
(22:53):
AJ Green was four years ago, because he's not that
guy anymore. See get whatever we can get and live
in the present, not in the past. Yeah, No, I
don't think it's crazy at all because Josh Allen's my
shock of the year. And I told a team this
morning as we were prepped for the show, I said,
I'm not going to go to a second. My second
is Justin Herbert. I'm like, this is he's a star.
(23:14):
I mean that anybody that can make those plays last night,
missing a right tackle, a right guard, a top running
back in Keenan Allen after the first quarter against the
Saints pass rush and the best pure corner in the league.
I'm like, I'm sorry, that's a star. That's what a
star looks like right there. Peter King, NBC Sports, We
gotta roll. Thank you, sir, thanks for stopping by. All right.
Colin rec Tech more than grill to lifestyle a grill
(23:36):
built by grillers for grillers. Rectech with the Q dot
com arecteq dot com. Joey Taylor of The News, No,
no turn on the news. This is the Herdline News.
Lebron James and the Lakers capped off one of the
most challenging NBA seasons ever and won the franchise's seventeenth championship,
(23:57):
and Lebron called out his critics after taking home his
fourth title. He said up in Smoke Tour, what they're
gonna say now he's on his Instagram. I know they'll
make another criteria that nobody else has ever had in
the history of the game. But guess what, though, bring
it on, please heavy is the head that holds the crown.
They say, Let's get it. Hashtag the kid from Akron,
(24:19):
hashtag revenge season completed, and he also posted a very
artistic photo of him taking this a long drag of
that cigar. That's celebratory cigar. He's first of all, I
love when guys, when when athletes are willing to just
say I'm good, get over it. I have no problem
with that because he is the average guy on Twitter
(24:41):
is telling you how great he is, and you know
he's living with his mom. So I have no problem
with Lebron going I'm good. You keep putting up roadblocks
and I keep blowing through him. The second thing is
we all know he's talking about there my MJ. Well, yeah,
of course, I just think I think it's Look, I'm
a MJ Zellott and let's not forget all right. We
(25:03):
just watched the last dance and we're all enamored with
the greatness of MJ. Now we've then since more recently
just watched Lebron win his fourth title with his third team,
bringing a team that would otherwise likely not be in
the finals there and winning finals MVP in a season,
(25:24):
and I personally felt like he should have also won
the regular season MVP, which is not a knock on you, honest,
I just think that Lebron was more valuable to his team.
I just it's getting kind of difficult to have that conversation.
And I'm saying that as a MJ super fan. I
think maybe we're just having the wrong conversation. Like like,
(25:46):
as you said, I think it was yesterday and he
said the MJ is like a chocolate candy or something. Well,
it's like it's like like urt or ice cream. More.
They're both in the dairy family, and a great yogurt
is great, and a great ice cream is great, Like
you can't but they're totally different. The texture in the field.
I think both players could play in both. Oh oh god, yes,
(26:10):
they Michael would be physical players. Yeah, Michael would be
great today and Lebron would be great. Yeah. That to me,
I always think that Lebron's a better Magic, Michael's a
better Kobe, and so we're always comparing, like it's not
comparing coke and pepsi. You could compare those, it's comparing
coke and orange juice. YEA, yeah, it's like it's it's
just it's almost impossible to make the comparison as Lebron
(26:30):
continues to achieve these new levels of greatness and they're
just different. Not going to go six and o in
the finals, but that was done a while ago, like
that that's already been erased from the Lebron legacy. He's
not going to do that. But is that the standard
for what the greatest is? To me, it's just everything
that mj encompassed. But to me, Lebron is also the
(26:55):
greatest superstar in any sports that we've ever seen in
the history of sports. What he has done from entering
the spotlight at age sixteen two now is unprecedented. Thing
about this Brady leaves the Patriots, cam shows up and
you're like, oh, kind of new and different and fun,
(27:16):
like like Brady's the goat. Nobody disputes that Joe Monten
left the Niners. You put Steve Young and you're like, oh,
they can win Super Bowls. Lebron leaves teams even like
the heat and it's like man overboard, Like it's just
I mean Doug's point earlier, Like they did lose Chris Bosh.
They would have been a playoff team if Chris Bosh
had not had the incident, the issue with the blood clots.
(27:38):
But yes, teams fall apart, like obviously Cleveland, Like no
one thinks Cleveland's gonna get back to the finals. Wait
six years after losing Lebron James, if Lebron retired today,
what would the Lakers be not winning the finals? Eight
seed in the West. I mean, they're just not the
same basketball team. This roster is ad Lebron and a
bunch of stuff. Look, I've dropped my pattiness with Lebron
(27:59):
when he went to the Lakers. He is in legacy mode.
Now I'm not a store loser. They were incredible this
year and he deserves the credit because it's not just
that he got the Lakers to the Finals and won
a seventeenth championship. He overcame the Kobe tragedy, dealing with
COVID going into a bubble for three months, being away
from his family being the face of the league in
(28:20):
an insane year of twenty twenty with constant criticism. Everyone's
telling you you're ruining the league. The ratings are down
because no one's watching anymore because you're talking about equality.
Like everything that they've dealt with this year, I can't
be more impressed with lebron. So. The Chargers fell to
one and four on the season after another heartbreaking loss,
although impressive performance by Justin Herberg and Anthony Lynn, says
(28:42):
the team needs to figure out how to close out
these close games. Yeah, guys have putting themselves in position
to win these games, and we're just not finishing the games, okay.
And it's not one thing here that Yeah, I could
give you a ton of excuses that I'm not about excuses.
You know. At the end of the day, we just
got to get it done. And that's only we know
we can play with anybody because you've been doing We
just gotta finish these damn games. The Chargers have seen
(29:04):
all five of their games come down to one possession.
They're owning two in overtime games. They also lost nine
of eleven games by one possession in twenty nineteen. I
I don't see. I don't buy in curses. The reality is,
I don't buy curses. Ever. I don't believe in ghosts.
I believe in goats. Those happen, but I don't believe
(29:26):
in curses. The Chargers historically have been a little cheap.
Maybe don't quite have the medical staff, don't quite have
the kicker, don't quite have the coordinator. They're not losing
these games because something's hovering over them, because the Rams
with McVay win a lot of these close games, and
a lot of teams win a lot of these close games.
You have if I'm the Chargers, my medical staff, my
(29:46):
coaching staff, are they the best available? Are my paying
for the best available people? Because right now, justin Herbert,
he's twenty of thirty four, two hundred and sixty four yards,
four touchdowns and no interceptions missing, top running back Keenan
and two offensive line getting smout smoked, got smoked. I
don't know. It is booky season. Con I don't I
(30:08):
don't buy anything, Just like sage the facility, you know,
put some salt in a couple of the corners, right,
maybe bringing a healer, just breaking when that kick Quinny
come on? How how does that happen when everyone's watching?
It's like a Twitter's unanimous. Twitter doesn't ever agree on
(30:29):
anything except for the charger of the curse. I mean,
isn't that what you thought? Just a little bit. I
think they've gone a little cheap from the ownership. I
think they've been a little cheap. And I'm saying, are
you willing to spend nine million for a coach? Because
if you're not, you're gonna get a retread or an
unproven quarterback a coordinator. So if when you have Justin Herbert,
are you gonna go get Lincoln Riley urban Meyer or
are you gonna go and you know there's a coordinator
(30:51):
we like in a Buffalo or are you gonna go
get a big boy head coach? So that that's the me.
I mean, I like Anthony Lynn. He's done a nice job.
But now you're in a division with Andy Reid. To
win it, you got to out scheme Andy Reid and
outplay Mahomes. And I think Justin Herbert may hold up
his end of the bargain. I just think these are
(31:12):
questions that need to be asking. Yeah, I mean they
have to finish those games. Finally, the Jets once again
struggled to get anything going offensively and lost thirty to
ten to the Cardinals this weekend. They're now owing five
on the season, and Adam Gay says he's considered giving
up play calling in order to better manage games as
a head coach for the last four years. You know,
I you know, I'm toyed with the idea every once
(31:35):
in a while. Yeah, I mean, I don't think I've
ever ever opposed to trying something to you know, try
something to change things up. I'd say everything's on the
table at this point. Well, the next three opponents are
the Dolphins, Bills, and Chiefs and three they'll be and
eight and they will let's be honest here, they're gonna
(32:00):
gonna move off Darnald. So Darnald will be available. And
if you put him to the right team, like, for instance,
I'm the Indianapolis Colts, I give Darnald those running backs,
that offensive line, and the receiver Pittman that he had
at USC. If I was the Colts, because the Cults
are gonna be too good to get one of the
top three quarterbacks, Sam Darnald. If I'm the Colts, is
(32:22):
who I go after? Well, accords to the New York
Daily News, there's a report that they are looking to
trade Levion Bell as well. Yeah, so that there things
are gonna start. They're gonna have cap space and draft
picks in New York. Unwinding there, Yeah, you could also
with Trevor Lawrence, you're gonna have you could literally get
three first and three seconds for Trevor Lawrence King Darnold,
and they already have two first next year. Anyway, you
(32:43):
could end up you you will literally if Joe Douglas
is capable, you're gonna have like you could get between
what you have now and what you could get for
Trevor Lawrence, you could have seven first round picks the
next three years. You could have seven second round picks
the next three years. And saying to keep listen, Darnold's
gonna find a place you this morning, Joy, we look
(33:05):
around the NFL. You got like nine teams need a quarterback.
Sam Darnold's gonna get a second look. He's not as
he should and I think that the place to me
is Indianapolis. I You're gonna give him a real coach,
a real running game, and a tremendous offensive line. Sam
Darnold went seven. You know, a winning record last year
with the Jets and that nothing. You don't think he
can win in that crazy Nutty Division with Jacksonville and Houston.
(33:27):
I think Sam Donald has plenty of football left in
him this year for the Jets. I'm not even as
high on Daniel Jones. If the Giants moved off to
Daniel Jones can start somewhere in this league. Again, I
don't know how either of these New York teams pitched
to their fans that they're not taking Trevor Lawrence after
the seasons that they've had. Regardless of what you feel
about Daniel Joes, Sam Arnald, I think it's a It's
a great point. Some more thoughts on Trevor Lawrence and
(33:47):
who's gonna take him? Some fascinating stuff coming out today
that's coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine a Empacific
on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the Hard Radio app.
By the way, there's articles out today tank for Trevor
the quarterback at Clemson, Trevor Lawrence, and there's a lot
(34:08):
of different stories on who would take him, and I
think you have to reverse it The question is who
wouldn't take him, Who wouldn't take Trevor Lawrence and we
were looking at the top fifteen draft picks this morning.
Giants would take him. Falcons, I think, would take him
and sit him for a year. I think Jets are
gonna take him. Chargers would not, Washington would, Jaguars would,
(34:31):
Vikings would. I'd like to see two. I would think
the Dolphins wouldn't. But if he does play for six
weeks and stinks, the Dolphins would. They're not gonna sit
around and wait forever. Lions have to Denver Wood. The
Carson Wentz thing. I love Carson Wentz, but now it's
in his head. Now he gets hurt a lot. I
think Philadelphia would have consider it again. You can get
(34:51):
something for Carson Wentz on the market. If a team
has a good offensive line, you can get stuff for
Carson Wentz. Bengals would not, forty nine Ers would, and
I think the Patriots would. I think the Patriots would
sign Cam to a two year deal, bring him in
like a justin Field Trevor Lawrence and say Camm gonna
be a mentor, We're gonna win a super Bowl with you.
But it's not who's gonna take Trevor Lawrence? Who isn't
(35:16):
this morning? The Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals are not
in the top fifteen. They love their guys and they should,
and then you get into really uncomfortable conversations like Philadelphia
with Carson Wentz. If somebody would give you, somebody would
give you a first for Carson Wentz, somebody would give you.
I mean, I would take Carson again if I'm the team.
(35:36):
And that's really fascinating. Here is the Colts. The Colts
have an excellent offensive line, a merging star at running back,
excellent defense, but it's all being undermine because they don't
have the right quarterback. Jacobe bru Setton, Philip Rivers don't.
They don't have the guy. So to me, the Colts
would take a Carson Wentz and would take a Sam
Darnold and it would change the franchise. Those guys could
(35:58):
sit behind a role is Royce of an offensive line.
But there are just certain people folks there. I think
you have to take Trevor Lawrence, and I like Sam Donald.
He needs a reboot. He's got to get the hell
I'd rooting for him, and you can get something for
Sam Donald. Sam Donald's gonna market, Carson Wentz has a market,
Daniel Jones has a tiny market, but Jimmy Garoppolo's got
(36:18):
a market. But I think it's pretty tiny. But I
you just do not get this kind of player, you know,
we nitpick. It's so funny. So Justin Herbert's been great,
right And I said, we have it on tap. I
said it a couple of times last year after the
Rose Bowl, I said, Justin Herbert reminds me of a
kind of a poor man's Trevor Lawrence. That he's Trevor Lawrence.
(36:38):
Trevor's a little better runner. And now Herbert's got a
better arm than Trevor Lawrence. But Trevor Lawrence is what
Justin Herbert looks like. Big tall, moves, big arm. Her
I think Herbert's arm is very quickly a top five
NFL arm. He's got a huge arm. But I you
start looking around the NFL. As much as I like Sam,
the Colts are going to be huge in this Like
(37:00):
right now in Indianapolis. They got this great defense. They
love their coach, Jonathan Taylor's been a great rookie running back,
their old lines great. They kind of need an it
guy at wide receiver. But they they're not rebuilding anymore.
They are a real team, the culture not rebuilding. They
need a quarterback. They're going to have a lot of
choices here because these teams are taking Giants and Jets
(37:21):
alone are moving off their guys. And I wouldn't with Darnold.
I kind of think with Darnald, give me three first
three seconds, I'd stay with them, and I'd get a
new coach. I'd go out and spa get Lincoln Riley,
I get Urban Meyer. I wouldn't waste any time. Get
a big boy guy that's coached. But I don't think
there's a lot of teams saying no. I mean again,
I'll say it again with Matt Ryan, Matt Stafford, Matt Ryan.
(37:43):
Matt Ryan works. If everything's perfect, this kid just overcome stuff.
But that's what you need the quarterback. Twenty twenty you do,
in twenty twenty, you do. I mean, at some point
your organization is not going to be built the way
that it was when it was perfect. There's always injuries.
I mean, look a look at Russell Wilson. Like we
consider the Seahawks as an organization to not be a
(38:04):
dysfunctional organization, their defense is not great, and he's overcoming
things in Seattle, which is a traditional, traditionally well run franchise. Okay,
so think about because here's the other issue. Offensive lines
in the last ten years, last five have deteriorated badly.
Who are the two teams that always have a good
offensive line? New England, which had Dante Scarnekia consider the
(38:27):
Spengali the guru of offensive linements. So they never in
Green Bay that does the best job in the league
of developing offensive lines. So green Bay in New England
for the last five six years, they're just always good
up front. They're always way better than average. So you
had this legendary coach, one of a once in a
lifetime head coach, and whatever green Bay's secret sauces in
(38:48):
developing offensive lines, they do it great. Everybody else in
this league is like crossing their fingers week to week.
Bad offensive line play is if you watch Washington in
the Rams this weekend, Yeah maybe it was. The Rams
don't even have a consistently great pass rush. They have
Aaron Donald. It was a mess heave. Oh, so you
(39:08):
have to consider that that if offensive line play is
deteriorating in the NFL because all these college teams are
now running spreads. You get very very few program Wisconsin, Michigan, Alabama,
they can pound the ball, they give you great offensive
lineman and maybe LSU, but by and large, college football
now is spreading it out. Even the traditional powers, they're
(39:29):
spreading it out. They're throwing forty five times, meaning you're
not developing offensive lineman in college to the NFL. And
when they get to the NFL with a new CBA,
they just don't get enough minutes practicing and it's the
one unit. So my point being is if offensive lines
are deteriorating, and they appear to be, then you better
have a quarterback that can make something happen if everything
isn't perfect. Justin Herbert last night, he was missing starters
(39:53):
or running back and he just made it happen. That's
the future at quarterback. You got a guy that has
to be able to deliver when everything breaks down. The
story of twenty twenty. The Herd
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern
nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one.
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 Herd. You're listening to Fox
Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. It's hour two. We're
(00:25):
live in Los Angeles. This is The Herd. Wherever you
may be and however you may be listening. We're on
Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Peter King in about
ten minutes stops by. Joey Taylor is joining me. We
got a football tonight, Buffalo and Tennessee. Kind of a
coin flip game like both. Probably it's in Nashville, right, um,
(00:48):
maybe Tennessee close right, take to Tennessee. I bet I defeated. Yeah,
I bet the Chargers last night. A little money on
the Chargers. Well you got that at the end of
the game. Yeah, a little money. It's a little bit
and a little bit, no big deal. A couple of
margar readers from you and the wife later this week.
It was so it wasn't a dramatic bet, No No,
none of my bets for fifty bucks. I always feel
like if I win fifty bucks, I get dinner in
(01:09):
a cocktail for free. What was the last big bet
that you may Oh, I lost a lot of money.
It was an NFL bet. It was a poor decision
by me. Let me guess I bet Atlanta. I don't know. No, no, no,
it was on too long ago. Yeah, it was an
NFL bet. Nonsense. Sorry, yeah, I'm bringing up old stuff.
Slept on the steps that night. All right, here we
go the Herd hierarchy. Ten best teams in the NFL.
Let's not waste any time heard hierarchy. The top ten
(01:35):
NFL teams according to College Number ten Cleveland Browns Kevin
Stefanski is my early leader for Coach of the Year.
They finally got a smart coach who's a grown up,
very mature. I love what he's doing. They not only
lead the NFL in rushing, but they lead the NFL
in ten plus yard rushes, meaning that's a big play
(01:57):
rush offense. They'll hit you over the top as well.
By Ker Mayfield worries me, but he does have multiple
touchdowns in each game. I'll probably no more after this
weekend against Pittsburgh. But the Browns defense scares me on
the back end, but they have forced twelve turnovers this year.
Number one Baker worries me in big spots, but I
got Cleveland number ten. I loved their coach. Number nine
(02:19):
Pittsburgh Steelers. Listen there. You can't run on them. So
it's gonna be will versus force this weekend. Cleveland's run
game against Pittsburgh's run defense. Their upcoming schedule Browns and
Ravens will tell me a lot about Pittsburgh. I've still
got some doubts. They're only twenty fourth in the NFL
yards per play, Big Ben's not making mistakes seventy percent
(02:41):
completion rate. But the Steelers have beaten teams with a
combined record of three fifteen and one. They've beaten a
bunch of nonsense, and so I have my real doubts.
This weekend, I got him at nine, one spot ahead
of Cleveland, and I'm not sure if I voted on
this tomorrow, i'd feel the same. I think it's a
toss up with Cleve a little more explosive offensively. Number
(03:03):
eight Rams four, No, but it's against the NFC East.
They are beaten up in the Giants and the Cowboys
number one in yardage differential. That's a real thing, meaning
they are explosive. Their defense has the most sacks this year.
That was a real point of contention in the offseason.
We're not getting the quarterback. Todd Gurley's gone. They've done
(03:25):
a nice job. They got cam akers Henderson, they got
nice running backs. Now. I think it's a real good
room to be in. It's a good team going forward.
I think there's some limitations if Goff sends his pressure,
but the reality is Goff has won two games for
every game he's lost with Sean McVay and I got
the Rams at eight, number seven. Tampa Bay have some concerns.
(03:47):
Leonard Fournett still banged up, Chris Godwin's still out. I
would like to see this team when they're healthy. Against
Chicago they have oh you know, they've got their tight end,
best tight end out for the year. Furnet's on Godwin,
Mike Evans. Here's the good news. Love Todd Bulls the
defensive coordinator. They have the number one rushing defense in
the NFL, and Mike Evans when he's healthy. He and
(04:09):
Brady ever relationship right now. So this is a team
that should get better. But I keep mit seven because
they looked like garbage against the Bears. He got Brady
barking at people, and frankly, their protection wasn't very good.
Number six Buffalo Bills not much to dislike Josh Allen.
They have thirty plus points in each of their last
(04:30):
three games. I have them this low because coming up
they faced Tennessee, the Chiefs, the Patriots, and the Seahawks.
So I feel like in the next month I'm really
gonna get a sense of what they are. I have
said this before. I think it's the best young coaching
staff in the NFL. This is it that in the
forty nine ers, best young coaching staff in the NFL.
They've done a miraculous job with Josh Allen. But the
(04:51):
truth is the next three four games. Number five Patriots.
I would take the Patriots with Cam Newton over the
Bills this morning if they played. Still the coach team
in the league. Keep your eye on Damian Harris emerging
as a star at running back. The second best rushing
team after Cleveland, their defense has allowed one rushing touchdown.
Again with Cam, I think they're a nightmare to face.
(05:14):
I think they match up with Kansas City very well.
You know, our Kansas City is sort of Baltimore's kryptonite Belichick,
and this team with Cam Newton could possibly be Kansas
City's kryptonite. I think they would have beaten them. They
run the ball, They've got an emerging start at running back.
You can't run on them. And they're the best coach
team in the league. Number four, the Seahawks. It's mostly
(05:35):
on voting Russell Wilson fourth. It is a historically pathetic defense.
Now Jamal Adams has been banged up. They do at
Bobby Wagner and Jamal Adams, but if you look at
most games game winning drives in the first nine seasons
of the NFL, Russell Wilson is first all time. Now again,
(05:55):
they got to go to Buffalo and they got a
game against the Rams on the road, so we'll get
a little more clarity. But at this point, they've got playmakers.
Russell's a playmaker, Jamal Adams a playmaker. DK Metcalf's a playmaker,
Bobby Wagner's a playmaker. They've got flaws, but they've also
when you can get out played and win like they
did against Minnesota. That speaks well of you. They got
(06:16):
outplayed in one. Not a lot of teams in the
NFL can say that. Number three Ravens. I like them.
I think we're selling too much of our stock. Highest
yards per carry in the NFL. Again, that's very Cleveland.
They not only run the ball, but they'll pop runs.
This is an aggressive home run running game. They can
pop stuff. They lead in scoring defense. I thought last
(06:40):
week Lamar looked a little banged up, so I didn't
take a ton from last week's performance. So don't sell
your Ravens stock. If you're selling it, I'm buying it.
I got him at three. Number two. Kansas City is
number two. Listen, the loss of the Raiders snapped a
thirteen game winning streak. But I will say this about
this team. They can be maddeningly inconsistent, even offensively half
(07:03):
to half. They can have bad half bad series. They're
just not as consistent as i'd like. Offensively, they're there set,
they don't have a ceiling. I mean, when they're on
lights out, good night, thanks for flying United. But they
don't get to that point a lot. And I think
Gandy Reid's concern is, hey, we got to button up
some stuff. When we're great, nobody's beaten us, but we
(07:26):
have some real holes and real droughts, and they did
against the Raiders. Number one Green Bay. There's some really
interesting number numbers here. And he faces Brady this week,
but here's some numbers that you can't deny. They're averaging
six point eight yards of play. That is a Vegas number.
Vegas loves it. If you're averaging almost seven yards of play,
(07:49):
that's well, why are they doing it? The offensive line
is ranked number one in the NFL. Aaron hasn't thrown
a pick, they're not getting penalized, they're not turning the
ball over. I think the defense is probably a little
better than we give it credit four because Aaron is
so fantastic. We pay so much attention to Brett Farve,
but Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay's offense that their defenses
(08:11):
are rarely bad. I think it's a good, solid defense. Certainly,
there's some bad defenses in the NFC. I think Green
Bay's the best team right now. Fewest sacks allowed, no interceptions,
seven yards of play, a better defense, they're special. Teams
are reliable. If Davante Adams is healthy, and he's got
some injury history. I think it's I think it's a
(08:32):
super Bowl winning team. How about that? What do you
think they're joy I think Steelers fans are gonna be
upset with you. But Candy beaten awful teams. Yeah, so
it's interesting. So I have Pittsburgh at nine, Cleveland at ten.
It's a four four and a half point spread Fox Bet,
(08:54):
and this morning, I would take Cleveland to cover. I
would take the points. Now, you think Pittsburgh goold wins,
I think I think it's I think that game is
the best game of the weekend. I think it's twenty
four to twenty three. I think it's a great game. Yeah,
well you're right Packers. Okay, there's two great games. It's
it's Aaron Rodgers and Brady But I but the more
(09:15):
I think about that, I'll take Aaron Rodgers in that game.
I think Steelers Bounds will be the better game. I
think it's gonna be a well, not the better I misspoke.
Brady Rodgers is just gonna be all fireworks. Also, Chiefs
Chiefs Bills. There's a lot of good games this weekend.
So but again, four and a half points, I'll take
(09:37):
Cleveland as of this morning, I would take Cleveland to
cover that. Man, I was so off on Green Bay
this year. Yeah, they look great offensive line. I'll tell
you that. It's funny about teams. Pittsburgh's one of these organizations.
They just draft wide receivers and develop them. You know,
it's funny about this. I've talked to coaches about this.
I talked to a coach about this about a week ago.
You think that college footballs where you developed talent. You
(09:59):
got a high scho kid, you got to develop them
because the high school coach doesn't know what he's doing.
But the reality is in college you only get seventeen
hours a week to coach. That's what the nc Doublas says.
So the truth is in the NFL you get a
lot of gems, but they're raw. You've got to develop guys.
In the NFL there are teams. The Steelers develop wide
receivers better than anybody. And I've said this more than
(10:20):
once on this show. Green Bay who they develop offensive lines?
So when's the last time the Packers had a bad
old line? And they don't very rarely do they draft
first round. So green Bay's offensive line and that far
mostly had good old lines, Aaron's had mostly really high
end offensive lines. Dallas has drafted great offensive lineman. Can
they develop them? Because the chance of you getting Tyron
(10:43):
Smith again and Zack Martin Travis Frederick again having guys
that generationally good. Green Bay takes guys in the third
and fourth round and then become all pros. And teams
that develop their young players tend to be consistently good
year after year and competitive year after year and don't
have to go through full rebuilds. Also, teams that don't
(11:03):
develop players have to go through free agency over pay
for players, and free agency is historically about a thirty
five percent hit rate, So that the reason the Pittsburgh
and Green Bay are always good is not just Big
Ben and Aaron Rodgers. They develop their players. Packers once
again Pro Football Focus this morning. Best offensive line in
the league is the Green Bay Packers. Peter King's around
(11:26):
the corner coming up next. One more Herd. The Herd
streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week
within the iHeartRadio app, Search Herd to listen live or
on demand whenever you like. The National League Championship Series
continues today with Game two between the Braves and Dodgers.
Coverage begins at five pm Eastern two pm Pacific only
(11:47):
on FS one and the Fox Sports app now Joy.
You mentioned earlier Clayton Kershaw is a scratch today back spasms,
So good luck. Because Atlantic and Rake they got they
got all sorts of hitters. So this should be a
high scoring series. Why don't you get past your aces?
There should be there should be a lot of runs
in this series. Peter King loves his baseball as well
Football Morning in America joining us now Live and dcsports
(12:10):
dot Com. So I watched Justin Herbert last night, and
I gotta tell you, Peter, Josh Allen was kind of
a mess his first year. Mahomes got to sit and
watch his first year. This kid's played breeze. Brady Maholmes
led all of them in the fourth quarter. I think
we have a star. I mean, Peter, I don't mean
to be hyperbolic, but I watched him last night and
(12:32):
I that is what a star looks like to me.
What was your takeaway? I mean, what else can you
say other than he was the best quarterback on the
field and the other one was Drew Brees. And you know,
I mean, Breeze pulled it out of his hat late.
He just did. But if you ask me, you know,
(12:54):
for the length of the game, the best quarterback on
the field was justin Herbert and on the road. And look,
it's a big help to have no crowd there because
you know, clearly, you know, have no crowd in the
Superdome for a Monday night game or it would have
been absolutely bonkers. That's certainly helped him. But I think
(13:15):
he's terrific. And it's so impressive to me Colin that
if you look at the first pick in the draft
and the sixth pick in the draft, those are both quarterbacks,
and both of them look like top twelve, top fifteen
players pretty soon in their careers. And we haven't even
talked about the guy who one year ago today, one
(13:37):
year ago today, tu Watanga Valoa was even no doubt
number one pick in the draft one year ago today. Yes,
and he hasn't even seen he hasn't even touched the
field yet, and I still think he's gonna be really good.
So it's just it's crazy what's happening. Yeah, it's we're
really in the golden age of quarterbacks and there and
They're all great kids. Like one of the things I've
(13:58):
said that's about the NBA. In the NFL, we're so
lucky right now. You just have great, coachable kids. They
work hard. And we also have three college quarterbacks coming
out next year and they're all seen as A to
A plus prospects. And that leads me to this is
that Matt Ryan. I watched him Sunday. He's thirty six.
Arthur Blank's like, I'm going to start over. There's a
(14:21):
lot of these Matt Staffords, Matt Ryan's. They're Cape Kirk cousins.
And I gotta tell you, Peter, I watched Josh Allen,
I watched Lamar, I watch I watched these kids move
in the pocket. And I wonder if I'm Atlanta and
Atlanta goes out and gets a coach. I wonder if
after a year they just they make him in San
(14:44):
Francisco Garoppolo. It seems to meet Peter that the tank
for Trevor Lawrence. I'm not sure how many teams outside
of Baltimore, Green Bay, Seattle, Kansas City wouldn't take him.
What do you do with them, Matt Ryan and Matt Stafford.
If you can get a great young quarterback. What do
you do with them? I think the biggest problem you
have right now, Colin, is that if the Atlanta Falcons
(15:07):
choose to move on next year from Matt Ryan, it's
a forty nine million dollar cap hit. Right If they
choose to move on even two years from now, it's
a twenty six million dollar cap hit. And remember the
Caps won ninety eight this year, but the next year
it's going to be one seventy five, and there's a
good chance the year after that it'll be around one
(15:29):
seventy five two, So that you know, even twenty six
million for a well managed team is a gigantic pile
of dead money on your cap. And I look, I
know that Atlanta and Falcons fans are rapidly fallen out
of love with Matt Ryan, but as of right now,
(15:51):
really not much of a choice. The only choice that
you have, honestly is because Matt Ryan's a great guy.
The only choice you have right now is to basically
have a new guy come in and next year Ryan plays,
and then after that you'll let the best man win. Yeah. No,
I think that's what I would do if I could
get a justin Field or Trevor Lawrence. So I'll i'll
(16:12):
want to theorize something here. We mostly know who's rebuilding.
Washington's rebuilding, Giants are rebuilding, Jacksonville's rebuilding. Nobody would dispute that.
And then there's teams that are obviously are not rebuilding, Baltimore,
Green Bay. These are really good teams, really good rosters.
But then there are these teams in the middle that
don't want to admit it, but they are rebuilding. And
(16:34):
I'm gonna say this, Dallas is very interesting. I think
they're rebuilding. They don't want to admit it right now.
They've got an old offensive line and it's mediocre, an
old defensive line that's mediocre. They need a corner and
a safety, linebacker, they're very expensive right now, banged up,
and a tad overrated tight end. They're okay, not special
if you take out wide receiver that they don't need
(16:57):
that for the next two or three drafts. And running
back paulor to Zeeker good. And I think dak is
their future. Could I argue that we are just we
just don't understand. I watched the Giants in Dallas. That's
the same team. One has an offense, one has a defense,
Dallas is actually an a rebuild, I would say, Peter,
they just don't want to admit it publicly. Well, I mean,
(17:20):
you'd have to find out first about Lyelle Collins and
Tyron Smith. And I think Tyrn Smith, you're right, he's
been getting banged up. He's now obviously out for the year.
You have no idea what his future is. I'd want
to know that before I would say that in twenty
twenty one, I'm a rebuilding team because you have an
(17:43):
explosive offense. Teams are able. Look at Bill Belichick, he
is pieced together a defense without his you know, the
best guy on his front seven Dante Hai Tower, the
guy who might have played the best last year. Kyle
van Noy. He's missing all his good veterans, and yet
he pieces together a bunch of Lawrence guys and he
(18:05):
makes a really good defense. So I'm not sure that
defense is is hard to put together year to year,
as is a really good offense with a good quarterback.
To me, I still think they can be the best
in a bad division if Dak Prescott lines up opening
day next year in his hole. So I watched Russell
(18:28):
Wilson Sunday night and Aaron Rodgers, according to PFF, has
the best offensive line in the league and a better
defense than Russell Wilson. And you've talked to Russell Wilson
about this, I don't know who to compare him to.
They're five and oh right now, was statistically the worst
defense in league history, and Pete Carroll's supposed to be
a defensive maven, but they've let things slide up front. Defensively,
(18:51):
they had to kind of overpay to get Jamal Adams.
Is Seattle to you a super Bowl level team or
they just an unbelievably fascinating team to watch with a
superstar quarterback that will eventually be exposed because they're just
so many holes defensively. Do you look at them and
(19:12):
think super Bowl team? Or do you look at them
like I'm increasingly doing and saying no, Russell Wilson's the
greatest football player currently on the earth. The rest of
the team you could mostly have. How do you view
the Seahawks? I view that there's three events that I
want to see before I can definitively answer that question.
(19:34):
First event is Jamal Adams back in three to four weeks.
This team is going to make the playoffs. So is
Jamal Adams back and is he going to be what
they traded for? All right? Number two Damon Harrison snacks Harrison.
It's incredible that you've got a premier run player who's
(19:57):
just on the street, not sure whether he wants to
play or not, and you just pick them up basically
for nothing. And now I would say probably by the
end of this month he's going to be playing. Who
is he Is he a great run stopper still or
is he done? And the third thing I want to
see two weeks from now, when the trading deadline happens,
(20:20):
I want to find out what magic John Schneider can
pull because to me, there's going to be a bunch
of guys who can improve their pass rush that if
you're willing. If John Schneider is willing to touch his
two twenty two draft, he's already traded his first two
picks next year for Jamal Adams, and if he's willing
(20:41):
to touch his two or his three in two twenty two,
he should be able to get a player of some
value to help him this year. And that's what I
would like to see him do. Go get a pass
rusher at the trading deadline. Finally, Peter King joining US
Minnesota and the Niners is not quite as good as
I thought, though Minnesota has lost close games to good teams.
(21:02):
Pittsburgh and the Raiders are a little better than I thought.
The biggest surprise in the league to me to this
point because there's a lot of stuff that I thought.
I thought the NFC's was gonna be bad. I like
the Packers, Tampa Bay, Seahawks rams. I'm not shocked by
a lot of what's happened. I pick, I picked Cleveland
to be a playoff team. The shock of the league
to me is Josh Allen. I can't explain it. He
(21:24):
looks like a top five quarterback. That is my real
shock of the NFL season. Do you have one. I
love the Josh Allen pick because none of us knew
how much work he did in the offseason to make
himself better. With his own private quarterback coast Jordan Palmer,
and with Tony Romo being his Josh Allen whisperer this offseason,
(21:48):
he helped him out quite a bit. And that's why
he's better mechanically. That's why he's a much more accurate
passer and That's why he doesn't play the game like
he's Padro martine As, looking like he's got to throw
a hundred on every pitch to be successful. He isn't
that quarterback anymore. He's a guy who has developed more
of a touch and more of knowledge of how to
(22:11):
play the game. I love that pick. If you would
ask me, there's a very good chance I would have
said him, But I might have said one other thing.
I might have said how quickly? Both Justin Herbert and
Joe Burrow look like yeah and again, I know this
is gonna sound crazy. By December first, they both might
be in the top ten or twelve a quarterbacks in
(22:33):
this league. Now, it's gonna be hard. It's gonna be
hard to look at Joe Burrow because they're gonna be
losing games. The Cincinnati Bengals have to be willing to say,
all right, look at the trading deadline. We're gonna see
if we can get a bag of footballs for aj Green. Okay,
we have to move on from who what we thought
(22:53):
AJ Green was four years ago, because he's not that
guy anymore. See get whatever we can get and live
in the present, not in the past. Yeah, No, I
don't think it's crazy at all because Josh Allen's my
shock of the year. And I told a team this
morning as we were prepped for the show, I said,
I'm not going to go to a second. My second
is Justin Herbert. I'm like, this is he's a star.
(23:14):
I mean that anybody that can make those plays last night,
missing a right tackle, a right guard, a top running
back in Keenan Allen after the first quarter against the
Saints pass rush and the best pure corner in the league.
I'm like, I'm sorry, that's a star. That's what a
star looks like right there. Peter King, NBC Sports, We
gotta roll. Thank you, sir, thanks for stopping by. All right.
Colin rec Tech more than grill to lifestyle a grill
(23:36):
built by grillers for grillers. Rectech with the Q dot
com arecteq dot com. Joey Taylor of The News, No,
no turn on the news. This is the Herdline News.
Lebron James and the Lakers capped off one of the
most challenging NBA seasons ever and won the franchise's seventeenth championship,
(23:57):
and Lebron called out his critics after taking home his
fourth title. He said up in Smoke Tour, what they're
gonna say now he's on his Instagram. I know they'll
make another criteria that nobody else has ever had in
the history of the game. But guess what, though, bring
it on, please heavy is the head that holds the crown.
They say, Let's get it. Hashtag the kid from Akron,
(24:19):
hashtag revenge season completed, and he also posted a very
artistic photo of him taking this a long drag of
that cigar. That's celebratory cigar. He's first of all, I
love when guys, when when athletes are willing to just
say I'm good, get over it. I have no problem
with that because he is the average guy on Twitter
(24:41):
is telling you how great he is, and you know
he's living with his mom. So I have no problem
with Lebron going I'm good. You keep putting up roadblocks
and I keep blowing through him. The second thing is
we all know he's talking about there my MJ. Well, yeah,
of course, I just think I think it's Look, I'm
a MJ Zellott and let's not forget all right. We
(25:03):
just watched the last dance and we're all enamored with
the greatness of MJ. Now we've then since more recently
just watched Lebron win his fourth title with his third team,
bringing a team that would otherwise likely not be in
the finals there and winning finals MVP in a season,
(25:24):
and I personally felt like he should have also won
the regular season MVP, which is not a knock on you, honest,
I just think that Lebron was more valuable to his team.
I just it's getting kind of difficult to have that conversation.
And I'm saying that as a MJ super fan. I
think maybe we're just having the wrong conversation. Like like,
(25:46):
as you said, I think it was yesterday and he
said the MJ is like a chocolate candy or something. Well,
it's like it's like like urt or ice cream. More.
They're both in the dairy family, and a great yogurt
is great, and a great ice cream is great, Like
you can't but they're totally different. The texture in the field.
I think both players could play in both. Oh oh god, yes,
(26:10):
they Michael would be physical players. Yeah, Michael would be
great today and Lebron would be great. Yeah. That to me,
I always think that Lebron's a better Magic, Michael's a
better Kobe, and so we're always comparing, like it's not
comparing coke and pepsi. You could compare those, it's comparing
coke and orange juice. YEA, yeah, it's like it's it's
just it's almost impossible to make the comparison as Lebron
(26:30):
continues to achieve these new levels of greatness and they're
just different. Not going to go six and o in
the finals, but that was done a while ago, like
that that's already been erased from the Lebron legacy. He's
not going to do that. But is that the standard
for what the greatest is? To me, it's just everything
that mj encompassed. But to me, Lebron is also the
(26:55):
greatest superstar in any sports that we've ever seen in
the history of sports. What he has done from entering
the spotlight at age sixteen two now is unprecedented. Thing
about this Brady leaves the Patriots, cam shows up and
you're like, oh, kind of new and different and fun,
(27:16):
like like Brady's the goat. Nobody disputes that Joe Monten
left the Niners. You put Steve Young and you're like, oh,
they can win Super Bowls. Lebron leaves teams even like
the heat and it's like man overboard, Like it's just
I mean Doug's point earlier, Like they did lose Chris Bosh.
They would have been a playoff team if Chris Bosh
had not had the incident, the issue with the blood clots.
(27:38):
But yes, teams fall apart, like obviously Cleveland, Like no
one thinks Cleveland's gonna get back to the finals. Wait
six years after losing Lebron James, if Lebron retired today,
what would the Lakers be not winning the finals? Eight
seed in the West. I mean, they're just not the
same basketball team. This roster is ad Lebron and a
bunch of stuff. Look, I've dropped my pattiness with Lebron
(27:59):
when he went to the Lakers. He is in legacy mode.
Now I'm not a store loser. They were incredible this
year and he deserves the credit because it's not just
that he got the Lakers to the Finals and won
a seventeenth championship. He overcame the Kobe tragedy, dealing with
COVID going into a bubble for three months, being away
from his family being the face of the league in
(28:20):
an insane year of twenty twenty with constant criticism. Everyone's
telling you you're ruining the league. The ratings are down
because no one's watching anymore because you're talking about equality.
Like everything that they've dealt with this year, I can't
be more impressed with lebron. So. The Chargers fell to
one and four on the season after another heartbreaking loss,
although impressive performance by Justin Herberg and Anthony Lynn, says
(28:42):
the team needs to figure out how to close out
these close games. Yeah, guys have putting themselves in position
to win these games, and we're just not finishing the games, okay.
And it's not one thing here that Yeah, I could
give you a ton of excuses that I'm not about excuses.
You know. At the end of the day, we just
got to get it done. And that's only we know
we can play with anybody because you've been doing We
just gotta finish these damn games. The Chargers have seen
(29:04):
all five of their games come down to one possession.
They're owning two in overtime games. They also lost nine
of eleven games by one possession in twenty nineteen. I
I don't see. I don't buy in curses. The reality is,
I don't buy curses. Ever. I don't believe in ghosts.
I believe in goats. Those happen, but I don't believe
(29:26):
in curses. The Chargers historically have been a little cheap.
Maybe don't quite have the medical staff, don't quite have
the kicker, don't quite have the coordinator. They're not losing
these games because something's hovering over them, because the Rams
with McVay win a lot of these close games, and
a lot of teams win a lot of these close games.
You have if I'm the Chargers, my medical staff, my
(29:46):
coaching staff, are they the best available? Are my paying
for the best available people? Because right now, justin Herbert,
he's twenty of thirty four, two hundred and sixty four yards,
four touchdowns and no interceptions missing, top running back Keenan
and two offensive line getting smout smoked, got smoked. I
don't know. It is booky season. Con I don't I
(30:08):
don't buy anything, Just like sage the facility, you know,
put some salt in a couple of the corners, right,
maybe bringing a healer, just breaking when that kick Quinny
come on? How how does that happen when everyone's watching?
It's like a Twitter's unanimous. Twitter doesn't ever agree on
(30:29):
anything except for the charger of the curse. I mean,
isn't that what you thought? Just a little bit. I
think they've gone a little cheap from the ownership. I
think they've been a little cheap. And I'm saying, are
you willing to spend nine million for a coach? Because
if you're not, you're gonna get a retread or an
unproven quarterback a coordinator. So if when you have Justin Herbert,
are you gonna go get Lincoln Riley urban Meyer or
are you gonna go and you know there's a coordinator
(30:51):
we like in a Buffalo or are you gonna go
get a big boy head coach? So that that's the me.
I mean, I like Anthony Lynn. He's done a nice job.
But now you're in a division with Andy Reid. To
win it, you got to out scheme Andy Reid and
outplay Mahomes. And I think Justin Herbert may hold up
his end of the bargain. I just think these are
(31:12):
questions that need to be asking. Yeah, I mean they
have to finish those games. Finally, the Jets once again
struggled to get anything going offensively and lost thirty to
ten to the Cardinals this weekend. They're now owing five
on the season, and Adam Gay says he's considered giving
up play calling in order to better manage games as
a head coach for the last four years. You know,
I you know, I'm toyed with the idea every once
(31:35):
in a while. Yeah, I mean, I don't think I've
ever ever opposed to trying something to you know, try
something to change things up. I'd say everything's on the
table at this point. Well, the next three opponents are
the Dolphins, Bills, and Chiefs and three they'll be and
eight and they will let's be honest here, they're gonna
(32:00):
gonna move off Darnald. So Darnald will be available. And
if you put him to the right team, like, for instance,
I'm the Indianapolis Colts, I give Darnald those running backs,
that offensive line, and the receiver Pittman that he had
at USC. If I was the Colts, because the Cults
are gonna be too good to get one of the
top three quarterbacks, Sam Darnald. If I'm the Colts, is
(32:22):
who I go after? Well, accords to the New York
Daily News, there's a report that they are looking to
trade Levion Bell as well. Yeah, so that there things
are gonna start. They're gonna have cap space and draft
picks in New York. Unwinding there, Yeah, you could also
with Trevor Lawrence, you're gonna have you could literally get
three first and three seconds for Trevor Lawrence King Darnold,
and they already have two first next year. Anyway, you
(32:43):
could end up you you will literally if Joe Douglas
is capable, you're gonna have like you could get between
what you have now and what you could get for
Trevor Lawrence, you could have seven first round picks the
next three years. You could have seven second round picks
the next three years. And saying to keep listen, Darnold's
gonna find a place you this morning, Joy, we look
(33:05):
around the NFL. You got like nine teams need a quarterback.
Sam Darnold's gonna get a second look. He's not as
he should and I think that the place to me
is Indianapolis. I You're gonna give him a real coach,
a real running game, and a tremendous offensive line. Sam
Darnold went seven. You know, a winning record last year
with the Jets and that nothing. You don't think he
can win in that crazy Nutty Division with Jacksonville and Houston.
(33:27):
I think Sam Donald has plenty of football left in
him this year for the Jets. I'm not even as
high on Daniel Jones. If the Giants moved off to
Daniel Jones can start somewhere in this league. Again, I
don't know how either of these New York teams pitched
to their fans that they're not taking Trevor Lawrence after
the seasons that they've had. Regardless of what you feel
about Daniel Joes, Sam Arnald, I think it's a It's
a great point. Some more thoughts on Trevor Lawrence and
(33:47):
who's gonna take him? Some fascinating stuff coming out today
that's coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine a Empacific
on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the Hard Radio app.
By the way, there's articles out today tank for Trevor
the quarterback at Clemson, Trevor Lawrence, and there's a lot
(34:08):
of different stories on who would take him, and I
think you have to reverse it The question is who
wouldn't take him, Who wouldn't take Trevor Lawrence and we
were looking at the top fifteen draft picks this morning.
Giants would take him. Falcons, I think, would take him
and sit him for a year. I think Jets are
gonna take him. Chargers would not, Washington would, Jaguars would,
(34:31):
Vikings would. I'd like to see two. I would think
the Dolphins wouldn't. But if he does play for six
weeks and stinks, the Dolphins would. They're not gonna sit
around and wait forever. Lions have to Denver Wood. The
Carson Wentz thing. I love Carson Wentz, but now it's
in his head. Now he gets hurt a lot. I
think Philadelphia would have consider it again. You can get
(34:51):
something for Carson Wentz on the market. If a team
has a good offensive line, you can get stuff for
Carson Wentz. Bengals would not, forty nine Ers would, and
I think the Patriots would. I think the Patriots would
sign Cam to a two year deal, bring him in
like a justin Field Trevor Lawrence and say Camm gonna
be a mentor, We're gonna win a super Bowl with you.
But it's not who's gonna take Trevor Lawrence? Who isn't
(35:16):
this morning? The Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals are not
in the top fifteen. They love their guys and they should,
and then you get into really uncomfortable conversations like Philadelphia
with Carson Wentz. If somebody would give you, somebody would
give you a first for Carson Wentz, somebody would give you.
I mean, I would take Carson again if I'm the team.
(35:36):
And that's really fascinating. Here is the Colts. The Colts
have an excellent offensive line, a merging star at running back,
excellent defense, but it's all being undermine because they don't
have the right quarterback. Jacobe bru Setton, Philip Rivers don't.
They don't have the guy. So to me, the Colts
would take a Carson Wentz and would take a Sam
Darnold and it would change the franchise. Those guys could
(35:58):
sit behind a role is Royce of an offensive line.
But there are just certain people folks there. I think
you have to take Trevor Lawrence, and I like Sam Donald.
He needs a reboot. He's got to get the hell
I'd rooting for him, and you can get something for
Sam Donald. Sam Donald's gonna market, Carson Wentz has a market,
Daniel Jones has a tiny market, but Jimmy Garoppolo's got
(36:18):
a market. But I think it's pretty tiny. But I
you just do not get this kind of player, you know,
we nitpick. It's so funny. So Justin Herbert's been great,
right And I said, we have it on tap. I
said it a couple of times last year after the
Rose Bowl, I said, Justin Herbert reminds me of a
kind of a poor man's Trevor Lawrence. That he's Trevor Lawrence.
(36:38):
Trevor's a little better runner. And now Herbert's got a
better arm than Trevor Lawrence. But Trevor Lawrence is what
Justin Herbert looks like. Big tall, moves, big arm. Her
I think Herbert's arm is very quickly a top five
NFL arm. He's got a huge arm. But I you
start looking around the NFL. As much as I like Sam,
the Colts are going to be huge in this Like
(37:00):
right now in Indianapolis. They got this great defense. They
love their coach, Jonathan Taylor's been a great rookie running back,
their old lines great. They kind of need an it
guy at wide receiver. But they they're not rebuilding anymore.
They are a real team, the culture not rebuilding. They
need a quarterback. They're going to have a lot of
choices here because these teams are taking Giants and Jets
(37:21):
alone are moving off their guys. And I wouldn't with Darnold.
I kind of think with Darnald, give me three first
three seconds, I'd stay with them, and I'd get a
new coach. I'd go out and spa get Lincoln Riley,
I get Urban Meyer. I wouldn't waste any time. Get
a big boy guy that's coached. But I don't think
there's a lot of teams saying no. I mean again,
I'll say it again with Matt Ryan, Matt Stafford, Matt Ryan.
(37:43):
Matt Ryan works. If everything's perfect, this kid just overcome stuff.
But that's what you need the quarterback. Twenty twenty you do,
in twenty twenty, you do. I mean, at some point
your organization is not going to be built the way
that it was when it was perfect. There's always injuries.
I mean, look a look at Russell Wilson. Like we
consider the Seahawks as an organization to not be a
(38:04):
dysfunctional organization, their defense is not great, and he's overcoming
things in Seattle, which is a traditional, traditionally well run franchise. Okay,
so think about because here's the other issue. Offensive lines
in the last ten years, last five have deteriorated badly.
Who are the two teams that always have a good
offensive line? New England, which had Dante Scarnekia consider the
(38:27):
Spengali the guru of offensive linements. So they never in
Green Bay that does the best job in the league
of developing offensive lines. So green Bay in New England
for the last five six years, they're just always good
up front. They're always way better than average. So you
had this legendary coach, one of a once in a
lifetime head coach, and whatever green Bay's secret sauces in
(38:48):
developing offensive lines, they do it great. Everybody else in
this league is like crossing their fingers week to week.
Bad offensive line play is if you watch Washington in
the Rams this weekend, Yeah maybe it was. The Rams
don't even have a consistently great pass rush. They have
Aaron Donald. It was a mess heave. Oh, so you
(39:08):
have to consider that that if offensive line play is
deteriorating in the NFL because all these college teams are
now running spreads. You get very very few program Wisconsin, Michigan, Alabama,
they can pound the ball, they give you great offensive
lineman and maybe LSU, but by and large, college football
now is spreading it out. Even the traditional powers, they're
(39:29):
spreading it out. They're throwing forty five times, meaning you're
not developing offensive lineman in college to the NFL. And
when they get to the NFL with a new CBA,
they just don't get enough minutes practicing and it's the
one unit. So my point being is if offensive lines
are deteriorating, and they appear to be, then you better
have a quarterback that can make something happen if everything
isn't perfect. Justin Herbert last night, he was missing starters
(39:53):
or running back and he just made it happen. That's
the future at quarterback. You got a guy that has
to be able to deliver when everything breaks down. The
story of twenty twenty. The Herd
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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