April 19, 2024 • 35 mins
Colin gives the Lakers a heads up on what they can expect after they likely will lose their opening round playoff series to the reigning champion Nuggets. He breaks down his predictions for the entire NBA playoffs as the first round is set to begin on Saturday. Plus, College Football reporter Bruce Feldman joins the show in studio to provide insight on the top QB prospects for the NFL draft
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All Right, here we go. It is a Friday. We
have a lot to discuss live in Los Angeles. It's
the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may
be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.
Jordan Schultzen for JAMAC today from Bleacher Report. He is
an NFL insider and we loved having you on a
couple weeks ago. You crushed it. We're having you back.
(00:49):
This is an interesting time of the year, so draft everybody.
A lot of the stuff out there right now, Jordan,
is a false information. People are throwing stuff out there.
You know this. I remember years ago mil Kayper telling
me you never got more manipulated than the last week
before the draft. Everybody's sending out stuff. NBA playoffs have
already sort of begun with a play in tomorrow Lakers Nuggets.
So you've picked a good time to come back to
(01:10):
the show.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I'm thrilled to be back. What did Bill Belichick say?
It's not until the final twelve hours that you really
get the actual information that matters. That's correct, and that's
can still me. You're gonna manipulated the final twelve hours.
But that's when the best information comes out. So until then,
it's lying season.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, lying season. So Lebron James and the Lakers primetime
tomorrow night start their series against Denver. So you know,
Denver's the preemp to favorite. They swept the Lakers last
year in the Western Conference Finals. So when I suggested
a week ago, you know, maybe the Lakers could rest
Lebron ad in that first game and you know, end
up facing Oklahoma City, who they match up with really
(01:51):
well and had beaten several times this year instead of Denver. Oh, Colin,
you can't duck yah, you can you can do that.
There are better matchups. But it wasn't just about losing
the series potentially to Denver. It's about the repercussions of
losing the series to Denver. Lebron has options after the year,
(02:11):
and right now he's easily the team's best playmaker, like easily,
so Lebron's career has always been under a microscope. We
all know that. So he gets swept by Denver, and
then he gets swept again by Denver and DeAngelo Russell
again has a mediocre to bad series. What's the fallout
for the Lakers? What's the fallout for Lebron? Because Denver's
(02:32):
not going anywhere. They're still pretty young, a lot of
players in their prime, and I think Jokic is actually
getting more efficient. And Lebron, if they get swept or
lose in five, is going to say to himself, let's
see here, we don't match out, we can't beat them.
They have more players in their prime. I'm getting older.
What's the fallout for that? He's gonna say to himself,
(02:53):
I need a new coach, start over again, id new
teammates outside of ad So Oklahoma City would have been different.
If you beat Oklahoma City in a six to seven
game series, regardless of what happens after, there would be hope,
There would be optimism. In a year that ends and
Lebron has options, Lebron would be saying, we can live
(03:15):
bit Darvin Ham, I like this roster. Maybe move d Low.
We just need tweaks. That's a different offseason than getting
swept again or losing in five to Denver. And now
the upside to getting whacked by the Nuggets is it
may force raw Polinka and Genie Buss to absolutely have
to go get Trey Young for Atlanta, regardless of what
you have to give up. So there is a ray
(03:37):
of sunshine if you get clobbered. And I think the
Lakers match up with Denver, but I don't see him
closing out games in this series. But there's gonna be
repercussions here if you get swept again. And Lebron's got
all sorts of options, and Draymond Green loves him and
hangs out with them and vacations with him, and Steph
Curry and Klay Thompson could certainly use another KG veteran
(04:00):
and to score twenty four points, Steph needs somebody next
to him that consistently can score twenty three to twenty four. Yeah,
I think that's Lebron. So it's not just just facing
Denver losing again. What are the repercussions of that. I
think they're substantial. With the only good side being you
get whacked. And Trey Young is absolutely a Laker next
(04:21):
year because Jeanie and Rob Palinka know lebron will put
the heat on him. That's what he does. So as
the draft the line season, as Jordan calls it, George
Peyton told The Athletic Great subscription service that the Denver
Broncos may move up and take a big swing. And
(04:41):
you know, it's interesting about the NFL. It's such a
situational league. So we all knew this. You know this
too most of the time. Andrew Luck being an exception,
you're about as good as where you land. Do you
get the right coach, the right coordinator, the right old line,
you're as good as where you land. Virtually nobody can
overcome nonsense. So well, that's very true, we all know it.
(05:01):
But here's something else. Even if you're a great coach,
you have to get a top quarterback or you get fired.
Pete Carroll loses Russell Wilson in his prime. Pete Carroll
before Russell Wilson in his prime, been fired three times
and you read got fired. Bill Belichick went from goat
to inept. So not only do quarterbacks have to land
on the right spot. Coaches have to get the right
quarterbacks so they get fired. So we know Sean Payton's
(05:24):
a good coach. Think about this. Not only were the
Saints three and thirteen before he arrived there, but the
New Orleans Saints had one playoff win in thirty nine
years before Sean Payton he arrived. In fifteen years, they
won the division half the time, seven times. We know
he can coach. He's probably the best play caller with
(05:46):
Andy Reid in the sport in a decade. But when
he took this Broncos gig, and I remember it because
he and I were talking a lot and then all
of a sudden he wouldn't return my calls. So I thought, Okay,
he's taking the gig and it was Denver, and my
first thought was, Ooh, there is a lot to unwrap
with that job. It's not your GM. You got new owner,
(06:08):
old line's a bit of a mess. Andy Reid mahomes
in the division, and what do you do with that
Russell Wilson deal. Yes, that's a lot, right, and we
know he can coach seven division titles. Fifteen years Saints
we're three and thirteen. Sean arrived division titles followed. They
were the laughingstock of the league, not for a year.
(06:29):
For thirty nine years they couldn't win when they had
Archie Manning, who is more athletic than Peyton and Eli combined.
So now it's one year later for Sean Payton. Here's
where we're at. Sixty seven million dollars in dead cap
money and the only way they can get a top
two to three quarterback is to give up massive draft
(06:52):
draft capital. That's where they're at. Oh, by the way,
Justin Herbert just got Jim Harbaugh. Mahon still has Andy Reid.
This division now looks like it's as good as anything
outside of the Raiders. So you know, it's it's funny
about Sean Payton. There's no no question he can coach.
(07:15):
But think about the two best job openings. You can
usually see what's a really good job opening in the
last let's say eight to nine years. What have been
the two best job openings Aaron Rodgers in his prime,
Matt Leffluur gets it, and then the Cowboys were a
really good roster and Mike McCarthy got it. Well, what
(07:35):
did what did Matt Lefluur do? Thirteen wins, thirteen wins. That, well,
what did Mike McCarthy do twelve wins? Twelve wins? So
you can see what a great job is. That's why everybody,
including Vegas DraftKings, is saying, yeah, the Chargers over unders
about ten and a half. They're gonna be really good,
really fast. They got a left tackle, they got a quarterback,
they got two edge rushers right like you can see,
(07:57):
they got draft picks. You can see the jobs. This
was not a good job.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Now.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Peyton's brilliant, and the Saints were in much worse shape
than Denver, and the dead cap money for the Broncos
is only for a year, and they got a few
third round picks and a couple fives. They don't have
a second round pick. They got to get another weapon.
They don't have enough weapons. Raiders right now have better weapons.
They need more weapons. They got to get a quarterback.
(08:25):
My take is that Sean is going to go sort
of revert back to after a difficult first year. What
worked in New Orleans, Well, what turned it all around
was Drew Brees. And the one quarterback in this class
that feels like Drew Brees to me is Bo Nicks.
A little shorter than you'd like, not a gun, not
a Howitz Risen arm, a lot of college starts, super productive,
(08:48):
won a lot of games, super dedicated, and moves better
than people think. So my prediction is Denver will either
stay at their spot and get a bow Nix, maybe
a little bit of a reach. Maybe they move up
one or two spots to get a JJ McCarthy. But
it does illustrate once again, it not only is about
(09:10):
where do you land as a quarterback, but even as
a top coach, if you don't solve the quarterback thing,
you're done. And like this is a good quarterback draft
and next year is not a good quarterback draft class.
So Denver's in a very precarious situation with a great
coach who took a difficult job. And this is how
(09:31):
hard it is that Herbert now getting Harbaugh changes everything.
That changes everything. I can argue by the end of
this year will be saying this division, no division has
two better teams at the top than the AFC West
with KC and the Chargers can't wait for My guess
(09:52):
is Denver has a couple holes to fill. They got
to get an edge rusher, they got to get another weapon,
I think they need some depth that corner and running
back in safety. I don't see them moving up, and
I do think Bo Nicks and Michael Pennix will both
be available. But you can't go too far back because
the Raiders are right behind you and they need a
(10:14):
quarterback and they may like Bo Nicks. So your gut
feeling right now, Caleb one, Jaden Daniels two, that's what
I've heard. What have you heard? Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
But then you have Drake May. Then you have JJ McCarthy, who,
depending on who you talk to, you might get an
entirely different answer. McCarthy the winning pedigree, the upside as
a as an athlete, a former hockey player, the toughness.
All he does is win two state titles, a national
title in high school at IMG, a national title third
(10:44):
winning is college quarterback ever. And then you have Drake May,
the upside through the roof, big tall move. Yeah, you
talked a couple weeks ago, justin Herbert type of talent,
but a little bit more raw, maybe a little more green.
And then bow Nicks sixty three career starts, and then
Michael Pennix at Indiana They're horrible, gets them to number
(11:04):
seven in the country, takes Washington to the national championship.
Always twenty four years old, Well so is Bo Knicks.
Breeze was twenty three. Who cares? Can you play? Those
guys can all play. In my opinion, I think they're
all really good. Yeah, I don't know if Knicks quite
has the same ceiling, but there's a lot of Really
there's a lot to be said about a high floor
and a guy that can play pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Oh yeah, Bo Knicks can play. First week, there's no question.
Sixty one, sixty two, sixty three College starts.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
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Speaker 1 (11:39):
So here we go, soup the nuts top to bottom.
Let's start in the Eastern Conference first round. Celtics. We'll
take on the Heat of the Bulls. Boston's gonna win
that series. Listen. They were forty one and eleven against
the East, all right, They're the deepest team in the league.
And Miami now if they win, Jimmy Butler's all banged up,
so that'll be a that'll be a four game series.
Next up, Cabs Magic Magic can't shoot, meaning if they
(12:02):
fall behind in this series, they're in trouble. I'm gonna
take Cleveland. Donovan Mitchell will be the best player on
the floor. And again, Orlando is not built to come
from behind. They they maybe be in the Clay Thompson Sweepstakes,
They're just not built in a playoff series to come back,
and you got to be built and be able to
win multiple ways. So I'll take Cleveland there. I'm gonna
take Milwaukee over Indiana in a seven game series. I
(12:24):
think Yannis will be available the final three to four games,
so the Pacers give up points in the paint. Milwaukee
is really, really big and really experienced. And remember Milwaukee
was shocked last year early in the first round of
the playoffs, so they got a little revenge on their mind.
I think it's a very good series. Indiana is a
tough matchup. Indiana is going to be a really good
team in the East, like Oka c in the West.
(12:45):
Going forward. I think they'll lose in seven games because
Yiannis will return and when Jannis and day Murhammond, it's
the number two duo in the NBA. So I'm in
the minority here. I like the Sixers over the next
I think New York is very Jalen Brunson dependent. Right now,
the hottest team in the league is Philadelphia, and let's
be honest, they were thirty two and eight when MB
played and they have a second star in Maxi. So again,
(13:10):
I think it's going to be a really good series.
But Philadelphia has got more good players and at the
end they'll have arguably the best player in the series.
Although Jalen Brunson certainly deserves some discussion. He's a great
player now and all right, then we go to the
next round, I'm going to take Boston over Cleveland again,
the easiest team. They average almost five more threes a
game than Cleveland, So even if Boston doesn't play it
(13:33):
particularly well, they shoot the ball well, and in playoff games,
that ability on an off quarter or an off half
to shoot your way to respectability or back in. That's
one of the many things Boston does well better than Cleveland, Milwaukee, Philadelphia,
the Bucks, Philadelphia seventy six ers, because I think, let's
(13:58):
be honest about Milwaukee, they haven't played wells and stock
Rivers got there. They're under five hundred, so they're not Humming.
I give him the win over Indiana mostly because of
experience inside, but they wouldn't have the big size advantage
over Philadelphia, So I think Philadelphia finally, Maxi has become
now a legitimate one A two, Tobias Harris got little
Buddy healed, Nicholet's patoomb got good roster. They're playing well,
(14:19):
good roster, and then Boston I think extinguishes Philadelphia very quickly.
That could be a sweep. I don't think that's particularly
great matchup, and I think I feel pretty strongly about
most of those picks. Milwaukee, Indiana. If Giannis doesn't play
the first three games, then we've got a different story.
My guess is he is healthy. They sit in for
the first game or two, Milwaukee draws a split, they
(14:42):
feel good about it and go on to win the
last couple of games. All right, we go out West,
thunder in the Pelicans or the Heat. Let's an okay,
see is going to win this. They're a better team,
first of all, and they've beaten those teams, the Kings
and the Pelicans in four straight games. So they also
have the best player in that series with SGA. When
you get into a series, best player. Okay see, I'm
(15:02):
gonna take the Mavericks over the Clippers. We don't know
if Kawhi is gonna play, and Dallas has really improved defensively.
It's not the offense, it's defensively. Also, Dallas has been
playing well since the All Star break, and the Clippers
right now have a lot of questions and they're just
kind of a murky team right now. I'm gonna take
Dallas t Wolves Sons. This is a tough one. I'm
(15:26):
gonna go Suns. They were three to zero against the
t Wolves. They match up well. Listen, I get Kadi
and Booker and Beale has played his best basketball this
season late Grayson Allen not that he had a renaissance,
but has it been better than we all thought. Off
the bench, I think they're gonna shoot their way. I
like aunt Ant's not a great shooter, he's a great
(15:48):
score so I think the shooting the perimeter excellence here.
They beat him three times this year. All go Suns.
That's an interesting series. Lakers Denver. I think the Lakers
match up with him, but the best player in the
series is going to be Jokic. And who are we
kidding here? They were three to zero against the Lakers.
In fact, let me check here, they've won eight straight
against the Lakers. Most of them have been close. But
an older Laker team with high altitude, Nope, I'm gonna
(16:12):
take him in five. Denver, let's go back to the top.
I'm gonna take Dallas over OKC. The reason being, you know,
Lucas having his best defensive season and the thunder are
I mean, they're just too young second least experience in
the NBA playoffs could be a very fun series. I
think Indiana in the East and Oklahoma City in the
West are gonna have a great six seven years. I
(16:32):
just don't think they're quite ready yet. And outside of
the bubble season, young teams can struggle in the playoffs.
Suns Denver is interesting. I think Phoenix can give Denver
some issues and they'll shoot their way to a couple
of wins. But in the end, I'm gonna take Denver.
Best player on the floor is Jokic, but I will
say Bradley Beale and Grayson Allen's emergence makes this really tasty.
(16:57):
And remember the Suns had a very tough late season
schedule and they aced it. So Phoenix is healthy, Beals
finally playing great Phoenix. Denver is tasty, that's a six gamer,
and Phoenix shoots their way to a couple of wins.
I'm gonna take Denver over Dallas. I just think overall
they're the better team. That's a big argument there again entertaining.
(17:21):
I think Phoenix, though, may give Denver more trouble than
Dallas because of matchups. And then we have the Nuggets
and the Celtics and the finals. The deepest team in
Boston to me, the greatest player in the world in Jokic.
I think it is a six game series. I'll take Denver,
and again, what I'm really interested in Giannis's health. I
(17:46):
think my big takeaways Philadelphia finally delivers. They got the
right coach, Nick Nurse Embad is mostly healthy. So Philadelphia
in a really weak middle down Eastern Conference, finally answers
a lot of the critics. They've been playing well. I
(18:06):
think they Darryl Mory's built a roster with some depth
in a second star. I worry about Giannis's health. The
Knicks are a better story in my opinion than a team,
and in the West, Phoenix is the wild card. Grayson
Allen Beale, Booker, Durant. Those guys can all hit a three,
and they'll be Knights when they're all hitting threes. And
(18:29):
if Denver's gonna get beat, it's not gonna be because
the team is necessarily got a better player. It's going
to be an Onslaught. It's gonna be Phoenix hits eleven
of thirteen three. So that's the way to be. And
that's why Boston has a shot against Denver because Boston
can hit threes, they can get hot. So there's mine.
(18:49):
There's not a lot of gambles here, right, but I
will say the Phoenix Phoenix last nine ten games of
the year. Look who they played good teams played well.
And you know when Grayson Allen came over, everybody was
like whatever. That ended up being more substantial than people think.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
He got a huge deal and they put feel a
little bit more at the point, which has helped the
peak stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
All right, let's bring him on. Bruce Feldman covers everything
except the NBA, and we're done talking it right now. Bruce.
It's good as oldys to see you, buddy. Bruce Feldman,
Fox Sports college football reporter. So you spent a lot
of college football reporters cover the draft, but you have
a lot of sources on this, and there's a lot
of interesting things here. For instance, we've said from the beginning,
(19:34):
JJ McCarthy, much like Alabama quarterbacks, played with the lead
a great run game, usually the best coach using the
best roster. Outside of an occasional Ohio State or Georgia game,
he was playing downhill. I tend to like quarterbacks who
either give me huge numbers, like a borough at a
football factory, or they're overcomers they carry people mahomes or
(19:56):
you know those kind of guys in college where they're
asked to carry people. He didn't really do either. You
didn't give me huge numbers, didn't carry anybody. That's what
worries me when you talk to scouts on JJ. What
part of his game Bruce is under the radar.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
The biggest part really is his athleticism.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
I don't think people give him enough credit for just
what a dynamic athlete he is. You would see him
make and create and run when they really needed him to.
He saw that against Ohio State and some critical situations.
You saw it actually in the playoff where he would
do some really athletic things. The sample size is much smaller.
Even though he played a lot of games. You know,
you remember he was not in there's a handful of
(20:35):
games in the Big ten. He was not even in
in the late and you know in the third quarter,
he wasn't in the fourth quarter. I just think what
you're getting with him. Everybody likes him in the interviews.
They're impressed by how he conducts himself, how football smart
he is. I think there's an r about him they like,
you know, there's you'll hear some comparisons a little bit like, oh,
(20:56):
he's kind of a rock purty kind of quarterback in
terms of what they think they're gonna see in terms
of what he was asked to do, but he in
terms of like he's much more athletic than Kirk Cousins. Yes,
so I think those comparisons I don't think they're they're
spot on.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
I can see some of the overlay for that.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
He is a guy from one of the coaches I
talked to in the NFL this week who felt like
both JJ and Drake May they were guys who were
gonna need a little more time, especially Drake May. But
both of them, you know, and they look they're both
younger players. They're not Michael Pennix, they're not Bo Nicks
who had been in college football for six.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Years and then played a ton.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
These guys hadn't played that much, and I think that's
what's going to be interesting to see, you know, how
high he goes and where he goes.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, we said yesterday if he is If JJ is
Kirk Cousins with mobility and inexpensive, that's a quarterback in
the NFL. I mean Kirk is a borderline a you
lack a little bit of juice moving and he's expensive.
That limits the roster. Well, if he's got juice, as
you say, and he's cheap, that's pretty good quarterback. For
the record, Sam Darnold probably the starter. If they got McCarthy,
(22:07):
much like McCarthy has a little juice athletically, so you'd
have kind of quarterbacks who play the same style. So
that's interesting.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
I think the other part was Sam, and it's good
to mention him, was you know, I think you and
I are both very high on him coming out of college.
Really good athlete. I think temperament, leadership was really good.
He went into a bad situation and I think he
buckled with that. I mean, there's the famous clip from
unse and Ghosts. Yeah, And I think that's the challenge
and the risk with all these young quarterbacks. If they
(22:35):
go into a really bad situation, you can ruin them.
And I think that's why, you know, it's maybe fifty
to fifty on the quarterbacks who get drafted. I think
almost all of them have a lot of talent. Yes,
it's just I think people tend to forget Patrick Mahomes.
You know, sat for a year behind Alex Smith, who
was a guy he could really learn from and learn
the right things. And then he's in Andy Reid's system.
(22:57):
You know, whereas you go someplace else don't have, you're
forced to play. Maybe the quarterback room is not very good,
there's nobody can lean on. And then also there's no
Andy Ree. You're with a defensive guy or a first
time offensive coordinator. It's a really kind of like fickle
dynamic that you're they're walking into.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So Jaden Daniels I was told is Washington they believe
is the best fit. So Cliff Kingsbury has used quarterbacks
who are mobile and accurate, and I like Jayden a lot.
I watched the int Arizona State, he was really thin.
He's still pretty thin, but he's developed. The numbers are
pretty profound. Is there anything I see a little Lamar?
(23:39):
It looks good in the pocket. Brian Kelly can be
tough on quarterbacks. He ran through him, but he loves
this kid. And this kid just got better. I mean,
if you look at the two years with Brian, he
got better. So he's coachable. Are there any concerns with Jaden?
What does the scouts say that you hear?
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Scouts really like him.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
The stuff I heard from coaches especially, it's like, first
of all the Arizona State Part three offensive coordinators in
three years, that program was in disarray around him, right,
he continued to physically develop.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Love how he grew at LSU.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
You know he was he was very good as a
transfer his first year and then he made dramatic improvement
as a passer. How he saw the field. Yeah, you
know he there is some Lamar. I mean he's not
as physically strong as Lamar. I think that a little
bit of the only hesitation you get on some people is,
you know, in terms of outside the number throws, he
(24:32):
has a good enough arm.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
It's not an elite arm.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
But he's accurate, he has a work ethic that people love,
and then his ability to extend plays. And you see
him show up in a lot of big games. You know,
you watch what he did against against Alabama. You watch
what he did like and granted he has two first
round receivers he was throwing to, but he was going
up against a lot of big time athletes.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
I about Arizona State against Herbert at Oregon Wild. You
look like you were watching two first round quarterbacks years ago.
Speaker 5 (25:03):
And he's in a bunch of those, right, And I
think that he is a guy to me, the more
people you talk to, the more you're like, oh, there's
a lot of people who actually feel more comfortable with
him than any quarterback in this draft.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
So let's talk about Caleb Williams. He is going to Chicago, obviously,
I have maybe because I know him a little bit
and I know a lot of people around him. My
take has been the fingernails, the jumping into his mom's arms,
even people some people push back. He's a little cocky
with you in the interview. I'm like, first of all,
anytime you're the first anything, it's difficult. He's the first
(25:37):
nil superstar in a major market. Let's give him a
little pass if he got into his fields a little.
I mean, I know at twenty one when I got
a new pair of shoes, I thought I had game. Okay,
kid was making four million bucks more than the assistant coaches.
So I just think we you know, la money nil.
I can get over fingernails. And I think he has
(25:57):
a sense of humor. I've talked to him three or
four times. I think he's a bright, quick, funny kid,
very confident. Any of that stuff were even Chicago though,
all the stuff the peripherals.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
I don't know how much it worries Chicago. I know
there are people in the draft process who love his talent,
but are have some concerns about him in terms of
like you're going into. You know, I just mentioned the
chief situation he gets compared to Patrick Mahomes a lot,
fair or unfair. Patrick Mahomes got to be behind, got
(26:28):
to be behind Alex Smith for a year and watched him.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
That's not this situation.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
You have Tyson Badge and you're gonna have Brett Rippon
that's not Alex. And a defensive coach and also, yeah,
defensive coach who you know, is definitely you know, maybe
he'll get another year after this year. But it's not
like the ideal situation, right, you know, a first time
offensive you know, a new offensive coordinator who's going in there.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Then on top of that, you know, you don't have
the Andy.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
Reid factor of a guy who knows exactly what he's
doing right running an offense and running a team.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
So I think there's a lot of stuff that's TVD.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
Now, maybe Keenan Allen becomes the guy he can lean
on and say, hey, you're supposed to do it this way,
because look, he won a Heisman at USC and he
had a great but like this past year was a
borderline disaster for USC. Right, they should have they shouldn't
have been that bad, right, And So I think some
of the stuff about okay, you know, is he going
to be the team guy?
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Is he going is he going to listen to the
people around him? Who is he listening to?
Speaker 5 (27:26):
I think those are things that people have legitimate concerns.
I don't think it's like, oh the fingernails or whatever,
like a lot of that stuff I think is more
anecdotal and separate.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
But I think the bigger things are you know, how
is he going to respond to, you.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
Know, real adversity but also trying to be the face
of a team and going into a locker room and hey,
we're all about winning games, not about you know, all
this other stuff that was going on with him at USC.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Is there a player because none of these quarterbacks quite ready.
I saw a quote yesterday from Bill Belichick. He said
the only player he's ever had in his career that
was ready week one, year one was Lawrence Taylor.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
He said, it does There's definitely no Lawrence Sale in
this draft. This is not a good defensive, you know,
frontline draft.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Is there a player? I kind of think it's Harrison
that's just ready to be productive right away.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
I think Harrison and Adunza are really polished and character wise,
really solid.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Now the guy who I've heard the.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
Most stuff so this past you know, a couple of weeks,
I've been talking to a lot of NFL position coaches
and scouts the one because I would have been saying
the two of them are the closest thing to can't
miss in terms of character. They're really polished, They're both
good sized guys. But it's the one who is the
is the Wow guy. Is actually Mylik Neighbors. I mean,
(28:51):
there are NFL receivers coaches I talked to who think
Malik Neighbors is the number.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
One a lot of yards after catch potential, just.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Just incredibly explosive of just has this dog mentality and
is so dynamic. And you know, one of the receivers
coaches I talked to two days ago said he's the
best receiver coming out of college in a long, long time.
He said, I would have said since Jamar Chase and
Jamar Chase had great film, I actually think he's He
(29:21):
is more explosive than Jamar Chase.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Now he's not quite as physically strong, but he's not
that far off it.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
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As we team up to expound on everything we're covering,
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Speaker 1 (30:06):
You know, it looks like to me, it's a quarterback
left tackle draft. I think all drafts are now receiver drafts.
I just think they all are because.
Speaker 5 (30:13):
But this one's much better than the one. Last year
you had Quintin Johnston, whose hands were spotty. You know,
you didn't have a lot of big guys. This draft
is much better than last last year or so.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
I don't remember a draft with eight left tackles like early.
Is that is that the unit? Is that the position?
Joe Alt, I've been told. I've heard there's a lot
of people. All doesn't have a huge ceiling, but should
be good really quickly. You know, he'll be a two
time Pro Bowler. Not Trent Williams. That's what I would
heart from an executive in the league. They like Alt.
They don't love any of the tackles, but they like
(30:43):
about eight of them to ten of them. There's a
kid at Duke that can go inside outside Oregon State.
Kid people say is like as good a run blocker.
You'll see it tackle you just won't see him any
better than anywhere on the planet. Is that the best
position in this draft? Do you think?
Speaker 5 (30:58):
I still think it's receiver because I think you have
three elite players at the top of it.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
You know, Joe all to me is is maybe in
that realm. I don't think he's as far.
Speaker 5 (31:10):
You know, you can get guys offensive linemen also where
I think there is not to the dreary quarterbacks, but
there is kind of a boomer bust feel to some
of them, right, So, you know you mentioned Oregon State,
Troy Fatanu at Washington, similar kind of player, where really physical.
There's coaches in the in the Pac twelve who actually
(31:31):
thought Troy was a little better than Telisi from Oregon State.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
But they're both, you know, they're bruisers.
Speaker 5 (31:36):
They're physical guys who I think can play outside but
also if you need them, can are good enough to
play inside as well, and versatile and smart and tough.
There's a couple of I don't want to say real
boomer bus guys, but Tyler Geyton from Oklahoma, Bill beid Mose,
the old line coach there, he was with Lincoln before.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
He's an old leitch guy. He has cranked out a
lot of star.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
NFL Lineman's got a lot alignment.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
Might be the most talented guy he's ever worked with,
but he's really raw, so you may be getting a
couple of years where he's got to work through it.
He you know, he kind of came to offensive line
really late. And then you have a guy in a
Marius Mims at Georgia. Is this enormous guys you know,
six eight, three forty. You know, people worry I talked
to in the NFL worry a little bit about just
(32:21):
in terms of durability when somebody is that big. Sure
he's only played started seven or eight games, but there
are a lot of offensive tackles that are interesting. You
just don't know, you know, do they go in the
eighteen to thirty range? You know, Barton from Duke people
like him because you can play so much. I don't
think anyone loves him in anyone's spot.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
To play three spots?
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Yeah, is he Is he going to be a lead
at any of them? I don't know.
Speaker 5 (32:48):
You know, you have a really good center in from
Oregon and Jackson's Power Johnson Zach Frazier is a really
good center that people really like Wes, Virginia. Yeah, so
it's a I think it's a good offensive line draft.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Finally, Deon Sanders. Fourteen players leave, I said earlier transfer portal,
ninety percent of the players that you get or leaving
are not foundational. Quarterbacks matter more than any I don't
look at this as he's got a sales pitch. Some
kids fall in love with the pitch and move on.
What do you make of what's happening to Colorado.
Speaker 5 (33:19):
I think it's it's kind of reflective of a lot
of what's going on actually around the country, just to
not to the same degree. And I don't want to
say this is the exact or this is a cu thing,
but I think one thing I'm hearing a lot of
in this cycle is you're seeing a lot of kids
go back into the portal and after not being in
there very long, and what is happening is a lot
of players are finding out that the things they are
(33:41):
being told they think they're getting aren't exactly what they're getting.
They're not getting that much because they may be told, yeah,
it's going to be four hundred thousand dollars or it's
going to be two hundred thousand dollars, but it's.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
A car that you're getting a rental you're not. You
don't own it.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
So it's not like you or I could turn around
and sell it right right. It's a house that they're
that you're being you have access to, but you don't
own it. So there's some of those things that I
think are are are are tough for a lot of
the kids to figure out right now. They think they're
getting one thing, they're not. It's there's a lot of
times I've heard stories of guys who think they're getting
(34:17):
eight or nine hundred thousand, they maybe end up with
two hundred thousand, So you get some frustration on that.
And again I don't think this is you know, in
Dion's case at CEU, they were so bad when he
got there and he made us, you know, a huge
overhaul of the program, and I think a lot of
it is now you've had a handful of assistants. Sean
Lewis is offense coordinators now the head coach at San
(34:39):
Diego states, You've had some people come and go.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
I suspect, you know.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
Especially with Shador there, they will go as they go
into a new league from one win to four wins
at least I think eight, you know, I get it there.
I think there will be more, you know, significantly better.
I don't know how much better than eight, but you
know I I wouldn't. You know, You're gonna see a
lot of guys, especially with grad transfers come and go,
(35:05):
and I just think that people are looking for the
right fit. And sometimes people are constantly hitting the reset button,
like the kid on the video game who doesn't like
the start of it, and all of a sudden like
let me start that all over again.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Good seeing your buddy as all as Bruce Develpman the
athletic Fox Sports.
Speaker 5 (35:21):
You've upgraded your shooting guard here. I think I've seen
I know Jason fancies himself as.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
A shoot No, you couldn't have j Mac and Jordan
the same backcourt. It would be, uh it would it.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Would It would basically be a black hole. It would
be no passing bad shots.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
It would be Boe and Kobe White. You'd be fun
to watch, But I'm not sure you defend an.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
I think there's more Jordan Poole going on here.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Yeah, where You're too kind
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sportsradio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All Right, here we go. It is a Friday. We
have a lot to discuss live in Los Angeles. It's
the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may
be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.
Jordan Schultzen for JAMAC today from Bleacher Report. He is
an NFL insider and we loved having you on a
couple weeks ago. You crushed it. We're having you back.
(00:49):
This is an interesting time of the year, so draft everybody.
A lot of the stuff out there right now, Jordan,
is a false information. People are throwing stuff out there.
You know this. I remember years ago mil Kayper telling
me you never got more manipulated than the last week
before the draft. Everybody's sending out stuff. NBA playoffs have
already sort of begun with a play in tomorrow Lakers Nuggets.
So you've picked a good time to come back to
(01:10):
the show.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I'm thrilled to be back. What did Bill Belichick say?
It's not until the final twelve hours that you really
get the actual information that matters. That's correct, and that's
can still me. You're gonna manipulated the final twelve hours.
But that's when the best information comes out. So until then,
it's lying season.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, lying season. So Lebron James and the Lakers primetime
tomorrow night start their series against Denver. So you know,
Denver's the preemp to favorite. They swept the Lakers last
year in the Western Conference Finals. So when I suggested
a week ago, you know, maybe the Lakers could rest
Lebron ad in that first game and you know, end
up facing Oklahoma City, who they match up with really
(01:51):
well and had beaten several times this year instead of Denver. Oh, Colin,
you can't duck yah, you can you can do that.
There are better matchups. But it wasn't just about losing
the series potentially to Denver. It's about the repercussions of
losing the series to Denver. Lebron has options after the year,
(02:11):
and right now he's easily the team's best playmaker, like easily,
so Lebron's career has always been under a microscope. We
all know that. So he gets swept by Denver, and
then he gets swept again by Denver and DeAngelo Russell
again has a mediocre to bad series. What's the fallout
for the Lakers? What's the fallout for Lebron? Because Denver's
(02:32):
not going anywhere. They're still pretty young, a lot of
players in their prime, and I think Jokic is actually
getting more efficient. And Lebron, if they get swept or
lose in five, is going to say to himself, let's
see here, we don't match out, we can't beat them.
They have more players in their prime. I'm getting older.
What's the fallout for that? He's gonna say to himself,
(02:53):
I need a new coach, start over again, id new
teammates outside of ad So Oklahoma City would have been different.
If you beat Oklahoma City in a six to seven
game series, regardless of what happens after, there would be hope,
There would be optimism. In a year that ends and
Lebron has options, Lebron would be saying, we can live
(03:15):
bit Darvin Ham, I like this roster. Maybe move d Low.
We just need tweaks. That's a different offseason than getting
swept again or losing in five to Denver. And now
the upside to getting whacked by the Nuggets is it
may force raw Polinka and Genie Buss to absolutely have
to go get Trey Young for Atlanta, regardless of what
you have to give up. So there is a ray
(03:37):
of sunshine if you get clobbered. And I think the
Lakers match up with Denver, but I don't see him
closing out games in this series. But there's gonna be
repercussions here if you get swept again. And Lebron's got
all sorts of options, and Draymond Green loves him and
hangs out with them and vacations with him, and Steph
Curry and Klay Thompson could certainly use another KG veteran
(04:00):
and to score twenty four points, Steph needs somebody next
to him that consistently can score twenty three to twenty four. Yeah,
I think that's Lebron. So it's not just just facing
Denver losing again. What are the repercussions of that. I
think they're substantial. With the only good side being you
get whacked. And Trey Young is absolutely a Laker next
(04:21):
year because Jeanie and Rob Palinka know lebron will put
the heat on him. That's what he does. So as
the draft the line season, as Jordan calls it, George
Peyton told The Athletic Great subscription service that the Denver
Broncos may move up and take a big swing. And
(04:41):
you know, it's interesting about the NFL. It's such a
situational league. So we all knew this. You know this
too most of the time. Andrew Luck being an exception,
you're about as good as where you land. Do you
get the right coach, the right coordinator, the right old line,
you're as good as where you land. Virtually nobody can
overcome nonsense. So well, that's very true, we all know it.
(05:01):
But here's something else. Even if you're a great coach,
you have to get a top quarterback or you get fired.
Pete Carroll loses Russell Wilson in his prime. Pete Carroll
before Russell Wilson in his prime, been fired three times
and you read got fired. Bill Belichick went from goat
to inept. So not only do quarterbacks have to land
on the right spot. Coaches have to get the right
quarterbacks so they get fired. So we know Sean Payton's
(05:24):
a good coach. Think about this. Not only were the
Saints three and thirteen before he arrived there, but the
New Orleans Saints had one playoff win in thirty nine
years before Sean Payton he arrived. In fifteen years, they
won the division half the time, seven times. We know
he can coach. He's probably the best play caller with
(05:46):
Andy Reid in the sport in a decade. But when
he took this Broncos gig, and I remember it because
he and I were talking a lot and then all
of a sudden he wouldn't return my calls. So I thought, Okay,
he's taking the gig and it was Denver, and my
first thought was, Ooh, there is a lot to unwrap
with that job. It's not your GM. You got new owner,
(06:08):
old line's a bit of a mess. Andy Reid mahomes
in the division, and what do you do with that
Russell Wilson deal. Yes, that's a lot, right, and we
know he can coach seven division titles. Fifteen years Saints
we're three and thirteen. Sean arrived division titles followed. They
were the laughingstock of the league, not for a year.
(06:29):
For thirty nine years they couldn't win when they had
Archie Manning, who is more athletic than Peyton and Eli combined.
So now it's one year later for Sean Payton. Here's
where we're at. Sixty seven million dollars in dead cap
money and the only way they can get a top
two to three quarterback is to give up massive draft
(06:52):
draft capital. That's where they're at. Oh, by the way,
Justin Herbert just got Jim Harbaugh. Mahon still has Andy Reid.
This division now looks like it's as good as anything
outside of the Raiders. So you know, it's it's funny
about Sean Payton. There's no no question he can coach.
(07:15):
But think about the two best job openings. You can
usually see what's a really good job opening in the
last let's say eight to nine years. What have been
the two best job openings Aaron Rodgers in his prime,
Matt Leffluur gets it, and then the Cowboys were a
really good roster and Mike McCarthy got it. Well, what
(07:35):
did what did Matt Lefluur do? Thirteen wins, thirteen wins. That, well,
what did Mike McCarthy do twelve wins? Twelve wins? So
you can see what a great job is. That's why everybody,
including Vegas DraftKings, is saying, yeah, the Chargers over unders
about ten and a half. They're gonna be really good,
really fast. They got a left tackle, they got a quarterback,
they got two edge rushers right like you can see,
(07:57):
they got draft picks. You can see the jobs. This
was not a good job.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Now.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Peyton's brilliant, and the Saints were in much worse shape
than Denver, and the dead cap money for the Broncos
is only for a year, and they got a few
third round picks and a couple fives. They don't have
a second round pick. They got to get another weapon.
They don't have enough weapons. Raiders right now have better weapons.
They need more weapons. They got to get a quarterback.
(08:25):
My take is that Sean is going to go sort
of revert back to after a difficult first year. What
worked in New Orleans, Well, what turned it all around
was Drew Brees. And the one quarterback in this class
that feels like Drew Brees to me is Bo Nicks.
A little shorter than you'd like, not a gun, not
a Howitz Risen arm, a lot of college starts, super productive,
(08:48):
won a lot of games, super dedicated, and moves better
than people think. So my prediction is Denver will either
stay at their spot and get a bow Nix, maybe
a little bit of a reach. Maybe they move up
one or two spots to get a JJ McCarthy. But
it does illustrate once again, it not only is about
(09:10):
where do you land as a quarterback, but even as
a top coach, if you don't solve the quarterback thing,
you're done. And like this is a good quarterback draft
and next year is not a good quarterback draft class.
So Denver's in a very precarious situation with a great
coach who took a difficult job. And this is how
(09:31):
hard it is that Herbert now getting Harbaugh changes everything.
That changes everything. I can argue by the end of
this year will be saying this division, no division has
two better teams at the top than the AFC West
with KC and the Chargers can't wait for My guess
(09:52):
is Denver has a couple holes to fill. They got
to get an edge rusher, they got to get another weapon,
I think they need some depth that corner and running
back in safety. I don't see them moving up, and
I do think Bo Nicks and Michael Pennix will both
be available. But you can't go too far back because
the Raiders are right behind you and they need a
(10:14):
quarterback and they may like Bo Nicks. So your gut
feeling right now, Caleb one, Jaden Daniels two, that's what
I've heard. What have you heard? Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
But then you have Drake May. Then you have JJ McCarthy, who,
depending on who you talk to, you might get an
entirely different answer. McCarthy the winning pedigree, the upside as
a as an athlete, a former hockey player, the toughness.
All he does is win two state titles, a national
title in high school at IMG, a national title third
(10:44):
winning is college quarterback ever. And then you have Drake May,
the upside through the roof, big tall move. Yeah, you
talked a couple weeks ago, justin Herbert type of talent,
but a little bit more raw, maybe a little more green.
And then bow Nicks sixty three career starts, and then
Michael Pennix at Indiana They're horrible, gets them to number
(11:04):
seven in the country, takes Washington to the national championship.
Always twenty four years old, Well so is Bo Knicks.
Breeze was twenty three. Who cares? Can you play? Those
guys can all play. In my opinion, I think they're
all really good. Yeah, I don't know if Knicks quite
has the same ceiling, but there's a lot of Really
there's a lot to be said about a high floor
and a guy that can play pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Oh yeah, Bo Knicks can play. First week, there's no question.
Sixty one, sixty two, sixty three College starts.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
So here we go, soup the nuts top to bottom.
Let's start in the Eastern Conference first round. Celtics. We'll
take on the Heat of the Bulls. Boston's gonna win
that series. Listen. They were forty one and eleven against
the East, all right, They're the deepest team in the league.
And Miami now if they win, Jimmy Butler's all banged up,
so that'll be a that'll be a four game series.
Next up, Cabs Magic Magic can't shoot, meaning if they
(12:02):
fall behind in this series, they're in trouble. I'm gonna
take Cleveland. Donovan Mitchell will be the best player on
the floor. And again, Orlando is not built to come
from behind. They they maybe be in the Clay Thompson Sweepstakes,
They're just not built in a playoff series to come back,
and you got to be built and be able to
win multiple ways. So I'll take Cleveland there. I'm gonna
take Milwaukee over Indiana in a seven game series. I
(12:24):
think Yannis will be available the final three to four games,
so the Pacers give up points in the paint. Milwaukee
is really, really big and really experienced. And remember Milwaukee
was shocked last year early in the first round of
the playoffs, so they got a little revenge on their mind.
I think it's a very good series. Indiana is a
tough matchup. Indiana is going to be a really good
team in the East, like Oka c in the West.
(12:45):
Going forward. I think they'll lose in seven games because
Yiannis will return and when Jannis and day Murhammond, it's
the number two duo in the NBA. So I'm in
the minority here. I like the Sixers over the next
I think New York is very Jalen Brunson dependent. Right now,
the hottest team in the league is Philadelphia, and let's
be honest, they were thirty two and eight when MB
played and they have a second star in Maxi. So again,
(13:10):
I think it's going to be a really good series.
But Philadelphia has got more good players and at the
end they'll have arguably the best player in the series.
Although Jalen Brunson certainly deserves some discussion. He's a great
player now and all right, then we go to the
next round, I'm going to take Boston over Cleveland again,
the easiest team. They average almost five more threes a
game than Cleveland, So even if Boston doesn't play it
(13:33):
particularly well, they shoot the ball well, and in playoff games,
that ability on an off quarter or an off half
to shoot your way to respectability or back in. That's
one of the many things Boston does well better than Cleveland, Milwaukee, Philadelphia,
the Bucks, Philadelphia seventy six ers, because I think, let's
(13:58):
be honest about Milwaukee, they haven't played wells and stock
Rivers got there. They're under five hundred, so they're not Humming.
I give him the win over Indiana mostly because of
experience inside, but they wouldn't have the big size advantage
over Philadelphia, So I think Philadelphia finally, Maxi has become
now a legitimate one A two, Tobias Harris got little
Buddy healed, Nicholet's patoomb got good roster. They're playing well,
(14:19):
good roster, and then Boston I think extinguishes Philadelphia very quickly.
That could be a sweep. I don't think that's particularly
great matchup, and I think I feel pretty strongly about
most of those picks. Milwaukee, Indiana. If Giannis doesn't play
the first three games, then we've got a different story.
My guess is he is healthy. They sit in for
the first game or two, Milwaukee draws a split, they
(14:42):
feel good about it and go on to win the
last couple of games. All right, we go out West,
thunder in the Pelicans or the Heat. Let's an okay,
see is going to win this. They're a better team,
first of all, and they've beaten those teams, the Kings
and the Pelicans in four straight games. So they also
have the best player in that series with SGA. When
you get into a series, best player. Okay see, I'm
(15:02):
gonna take the Mavericks over the Clippers. We don't know
if Kawhi is gonna play, and Dallas has really improved defensively.
It's not the offense, it's defensively. Also, Dallas has been
playing well since the All Star break, and the Clippers
right now have a lot of questions and they're just
kind of a murky team right now. I'm gonna take
Dallas t Wolves Sons. This is a tough one. I'm
(15:26):
gonna go Suns. They were three to zero against the
t Wolves. They match up well. Listen, I get Kadi
and Booker and Beale has played his best basketball this
season late Grayson Allen not that he had a renaissance,
but has it been better than we all thought. Off
the bench, I think they're gonna shoot their way. I
like aunt Ant's not a great shooter, he's a great
(15:48):
score so I think the shooting the perimeter excellence here.
They beat him three times this year. All go Suns.
That's an interesting series. Lakers Denver. I think the Lakers
match up with him, but the best player in the
series is going to be Jokic. And who are we
kidding here? They were three to zero against the Lakers.
In fact, let me check here, they've won eight straight
against the Lakers. Most of them have been close. But
an older Laker team with high altitude, Nope, I'm gonna
(16:12):
take him in five. Denver, let's go back to the top.
I'm gonna take Dallas over OKC. The reason being, you know,
Lucas having his best defensive season and the thunder are
I mean, they're just too young second least experience in
the NBA playoffs could be a very fun series. I
think Indiana in the East and Oklahoma City in the
West are gonna have a great six seven years. I
(16:32):
just don't think they're quite ready yet. And outside of
the bubble season, young teams can struggle in the playoffs.
Suns Denver is interesting. I think Phoenix can give Denver
some issues and they'll shoot their way to a couple
of wins. But in the end, I'm gonna take Denver.
Best player on the floor is Jokic, but I will
say Bradley Beale and Grayson Allen's emergence makes this really tasty.
(16:57):
And remember the Suns had a very tough late season
schedule and they aced it. So Phoenix is healthy, Beals
finally playing great Phoenix. Denver is tasty, that's a six gamer,
and Phoenix shoots their way to a couple of wins.
I'm gonna take Denver over Dallas. I just think overall
they're the better team. That's a big argument there again entertaining.
(17:21):
I think Phoenix, though, may give Denver more trouble than
Dallas because of matchups. And then we have the Nuggets
and the Celtics and the finals. The deepest team in
Boston to me, the greatest player in the world in Jokic.
I think it is a six game series. I'll take Denver,
and again, what I'm really interested in Giannis's health. I
(17:46):
think my big takeaways Philadelphia finally delivers. They got the
right coach, Nick Nurse Embad is mostly healthy. So Philadelphia
in a really weak middle down Eastern Conference, finally answers
a lot of the critics. They've been playing well. I
(18:06):
think they Darryl Mory's built a roster with some depth
in a second star. I worry about Giannis's health. The
Knicks are a better story in my opinion than a team,
and in the West, Phoenix is the wild card. Grayson
Allen Beale, Booker, Durant. Those guys can all hit a three,
and they'll be Knights when they're all hitting threes. And
(18:29):
if Denver's gonna get beat, it's not gonna be because
the team is necessarily got a better player. It's going
to be an Onslaught. It's gonna be Phoenix hits eleven
of thirteen three. So that's the way to be. And
that's why Boston has a shot against Denver because Boston
can hit threes, they can get hot. So there's mine.
(18:49):
There's not a lot of gambles here, right, but I
will say the Phoenix Phoenix last nine ten games of
the year. Look who they played good teams played well.
And you know when Grayson Allen came over, everybody was
like whatever. That ended up being more substantial than people think.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
He got a huge deal and they put feel a
little bit more at the point, which has helped the
peak stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
All right, let's bring him on. Bruce Feldman covers everything
except the NBA, and we're done talking it right now. Bruce.
It's good as oldys to see you, buddy. Bruce Feldman,
Fox Sports college football reporter. So you spent a lot
of college football reporters cover the draft, but you have
a lot of sources on this, and there's a lot
of interesting things here. For instance, we've said from the beginning,
(19:34):
JJ McCarthy, much like Alabama quarterbacks, played with the lead
a great run game, usually the best coach using the
best roster. Outside of an occasional Ohio State or Georgia game,
he was playing downhill. I tend to like quarterbacks who
either give me huge numbers, like a borough at a
football factory, or they're overcomers they carry people mahomes or
(19:56):
you know those kind of guys in college where they're
asked to carry people. He didn't really do either. You
didn't give me huge numbers, didn't carry anybody. That's what
worries me when you talk to scouts on JJ. What
part of his game Bruce is under the radar.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
The biggest part really is his athleticism.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
I don't think people give him enough credit for just
what a dynamic athlete he is. You would see him
make and create and run when they really needed him to.
He saw that against Ohio State and some critical situations.
You saw it actually in the playoff where he would
do some really athletic things. The sample size is much smaller.
Even though he played a lot of games. You know,
you remember he was not in there's a handful of
(20:35):
games in the Big ten. He was not even in
in the late and you know in the third quarter,
he wasn't in the fourth quarter. I just think what
you're getting with him. Everybody likes him in the interviews.
They're impressed by how he conducts himself, how football smart
he is. I think there's an r about him they like,
you know, there's you'll hear some comparisons a little bit like, oh,
(20:56):
he's kind of a rock purty kind of quarterback in
terms of what they think they're gonna see in terms
of what he was asked to do, but he in
terms of like he's much more athletic than Kirk Cousins. Yes,
so I think those comparisons I don't think they're they're
spot on.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
I can see some of the overlay for that.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
He is a guy from one of the coaches I
talked to in the NFL this week who felt like
both JJ and Drake May they were guys who were
gonna need a little more time, especially Drake May. But
both of them, you know, and they look they're both
younger players. They're not Michael Pennix, they're not Bo Nicks
who had been in college football for six.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Years and then played a ton.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
These guys hadn't played that much, and I think that's
what's going to be interesting to see, you know, how
high he goes and where he goes.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, we said yesterday if he is If JJ is
Kirk Cousins with mobility and inexpensive, that's a quarterback in
the NFL. I mean Kirk is a borderline a you
lack a little bit of juice moving and he's expensive.
That limits the roster. Well, if he's got juice, as
you say, and he's cheap, that's pretty good quarterback. For
the record, Sam Darnold probably the starter. If they got McCarthy,
(22:07):
much like McCarthy has a little juice athletically, so you'd
have kind of quarterbacks who play the same style. So
that's interesting.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
I think the other part was Sam, and it's good
to mention him, was you know, I think you and
I are both very high on him coming out of college.
Really good athlete. I think temperament, leadership was really good.
He went into a bad situation and I think he
buckled with that. I mean, there's the famous clip from
unse and Ghosts. Yeah, And I think that's the challenge
and the risk with all these young quarterbacks. If they
(22:35):
go into a really bad situation, you can ruin them.
And I think that's why, you know, it's maybe fifty
to fifty on the quarterbacks who get drafted. I think
almost all of them have a lot of talent. Yes,
it's just I think people tend to forget Patrick Mahomes.
You know, sat for a year behind Alex Smith, who
was a guy he could really learn from and learn
the right things. And then he's in Andy Reid's system.
(22:57):
You know, whereas you go someplace else don't have, you're
forced to play. Maybe the quarterback room is not very good,
there's nobody can lean on. And then also there's no
Andy Ree. You're with a defensive guy or a first
time offensive coordinator. It's a really kind of like fickle
dynamic that you're they're walking into.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So Jaden Daniels I was told is Washington they believe
is the best fit. So Cliff Kingsbury has used quarterbacks
who are mobile and accurate, and I like Jayden a lot.
I watched the int Arizona State, he was really thin.
He's still pretty thin, but he's developed. The numbers are
pretty profound. Is there anything I see a little Lamar?
(23:39):
It looks good in the pocket. Brian Kelly can be
tough on quarterbacks. He ran through him, but he loves
this kid. And this kid just got better. I mean,
if you look at the two years with Brian, he
got better. So he's coachable. Are there any concerns with Jaden?
What does the scouts say that you hear?
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Scouts really like him.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
The stuff I heard from coaches especially, it's like, first
of all the Arizona State Part three offensive coordinators in
three years, that program was in disarray around him, right,
he continued to physically develop.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Love how he grew at LSU.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
You know he was he was very good as a
transfer his first year and then he made dramatic improvement
as a passer. How he saw the field. Yeah, you
know he there is some Lamar. I mean he's not
as physically strong as Lamar. I think that a little
bit of the only hesitation you get on some people is,
you know, in terms of outside the number throws, he
(24:32):
has a good enough arm.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
It's not an elite arm.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
But he's accurate, he has a work ethic that people love,
and then his ability to extend plays. And you see
him show up in a lot of big games. You know,
you watch what he did against against Alabama. You watch
what he did like and granted he has two first
round receivers he was throwing to, but he was going
up against a lot of big time athletes.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
I about Arizona State against Herbert at Oregon Wild. You
look like you were watching two first round quarterbacks years ago.
Speaker 5 (25:03):
And he's in a bunch of those, right, And I
think that he is a guy to me, the more
people you talk to, the more you're like, oh, there's
a lot of people who actually feel more comfortable with
him than any quarterback in this draft.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
So let's talk about Caleb Williams. He is going to Chicago, obviously,
I have maybe because I know him a little bit
and I know a lot of people around him. My
take has been the fingernails, the jumping into his mom's arms,
even people some people push back. He's a little cocky
with you in the interview. I'm like, first of all,
anytime you're the first anything, it's difficult. He's the first
(25:37):
nil superstar in a major market. Let's give him a
little pass if he got into his fields a little.
I mean, I know at twenty one when I got
a new pair of shoes, I thought I had game. Okay,
kid was making four million bucks more than the assistant coaches.
So I just think we you know, la money nil.
I can get over fingernails. And I think he has
(25:57):
a sense of humor. I've talked to him three or
four times. I think he's a bright, quick, funny kid,
very confident. Any of that stuff were even Chicago though,
all the stuff the peripherals.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
I don't know how much it worries Chicago. I know
there are people in the draft process who love his talent,
but are have some concerns about him in terms of
like you're going into. You know, I just mentioned the
chief situation he gets compared to Patrick Mahomes a lot,
fair or unfair. Patrick Mahomes got to be behind, got
(26:28):
to be behind Alex Smith for a year and watched him.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
That's not this situation.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
You have Tyson Badge and you're gonna have Brett Rippon
that's not Alex. And a defensive coach and also, yeah,
defensive coach who you know, is definitely you know, maybe
he'll get another year after this year. But it's not
like the ideal situation, right, you know, a first time
offensive you know, a new offensive coordinator who's going in there.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Then on top of that, you know, you don't have
the Andy.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
Reid factor of a guy who knows exactly what he's
doing right running an offense and running a team.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
So I think there's a lot of stuff that's TVD.
Speaker 5 (27:00):
Now, maybe Keenan Allen becomes the guy he can lean
on and say, hey, you're supposed to do it this way,
because look, he won a Heisman at USC and he
had a great but like this past year was a
borderline disaster for USC. Right, they should have they shouldn't
have been that bad, right, And So I think some
of the stuff about okay, you know, is he going
to be the team guy?
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Is he going is he going to listen to the
people around him? Who is he listening to?
Speaker 5 (27:26):
I think those are things that people have legitimate concerns.
I don't think it's like, oh the fingernails or whatever,
like a lot of that stuff I think is more
anecdotal and separate.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
But I think the bigger things are you know, how
is he going to respond to, you.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
Know, real adversity but also trying to be the face
of a team and going into a locker room and hey,
we're all about winning games, not about you know, all
this other stuff that was going on with him at USC.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Is there a player because none of these quarterbacks quite ready.
I saw a quote yesterday from Bill Belichick. He said
the only player he's ever had in his career that
was ready week one, year one was Lawrence Taylor.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
He said, it does There's definitely no Lawrence Sale in
this draft. This is not a good defensive, you know,
frontline draft.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Is there a player? I kind of think it's Harrison
that's just ready to be productive right away.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
I think Harrison and Adunza are really polished and character wise,
really solid.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Now the guy who I've heard the.
Speaker 5 (28:29):
Most stuff so this past you know, a couple of weeks,
I've been talking to a lot of NFL position coaches
and scouts the one because I would have been saying
the two of them are the closest thing to can't
miss in terms of character. They're really polished, They're both
good sized guys. But it's the one who is the
is the Wow guy. Is actually Mylik Neighbors. I mean,
(28:51):
there are NFL receivers coaches I talked to who think
Malik Neighbors is the number.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
One a lot of yards after catch potential, just.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Just incredibly explosive of just has this dog mentality and
is so dynamic. And you know, one of the receivers
coaches I talked to two days ago said he's the
best receiver coming out of college in a long, long time.
He said, I would have said since Jamar Chase and
Jamar Chase had great film, I actually think he's He
(29:21):
is more explosive than Jamar Chase.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Now he's not quite as physically strong, but he's not
that far off it.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
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Speaker 1 (29:47):
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As we team up to expound on everything we're covering,
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On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get
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Speaker 1 (30:06):
You know, it looks like to me, it's a quarterback
left tackle draft. I think all drafts are now receiver drafts.
I just think they all are because.
Speaker 5 (30:13):
But this one's much better than the one. Last year
you had Quintin Johnston, whose hands were spotty. You know,
you didn't have a lot of big guys. This draft
is much better than last last year or so.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
I don't remember a draft with eight left tackles like early.
Is that is that the unit? Is that the position?
Joe Alt, I've been told. I've heard there's a lot
of people. All doesn't have a huge ceiling, but should
be good really quickly. You know, he'll be a two
time Pro Bowler. Not Trent Williams. That's what I would
heart from an executive in the league. They like Alt.
They don't love any of the tackles, but they like
(30:43):
about eight of them to ten of them. There's a
kid at Duke that can go inside outside Oregon State.
Kid people say is like as good a run blocker.
You'll see it tackle you just won't see him any
better than anywhere on the planet. Is that the best
position in this draft? Do you think?
Speaker 5 (30:58):
I still think it's receiver because I think you have
three elite players at the top of it.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
You know, Joe all to me is is maybe in
that realm. I don't think he's as far.
Speaker 5 (31:10):
You know, you can get guys offensive linemen also where
I think there is not to the dreary quarterbacks, but
there is kind of a boomer bust feel to some
of them, right, So, you know you mentioned Oregon State,
Troy Fatanu at Washington, similar kind of player, where really physical.
There's coaches in the in the Pac twelve who actually
(31:31):
thought Troy was a little better than Telisi from Oregon State.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
But they're both, you know, they're bruisers.
Speaker 5 (31:36):
They're physical guys who I think can play outside but
also if you need them, can are good enough to
play inside as well, and versatile and smart and tough.
There's a couple of I don't want to say real
boomer bus guys, but Tyler Geyton from Oklahoma, Bill beid Mose,
the old line coach there, he was with Lincoln before.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
He's an old leitch guy. He has cranked out a
lot of star.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
NFL Lineman's got a lot alignment.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
Might be the most talented guy he's ever worked with,
but he's really raw, so you may be getting a
couple of years where he's got to work through it.
He you know, he kind of came to offensive line
really late. And then you have a guy in a
Marius Mims at Georgia. Is this enormous guys you know,
six eight, three forty. You know, people worry I talked
to in the NFL worry a little bit about just
(32:21):
in terms of durability when somebody is that big. Sure
he's only played started seven or eight games, but there
are a lot of offensive tackles that are interesting. You
just don't know, you know, do they go in the
eighteen to thirty range? You know, Barton from Duke people
like him because you can play so much. I don't
think anyone loves him in anyone's spot.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
To play three spots?
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Yeah, is he Is he going to be a lead
at any of them? I don't know.
Speaker 5 (32:48):
You know, you have a really good center in from
Oregon and Jackson's Power Johnson Zach Frazier is a really
good center that people really like Wes, Virginia. Yeah, so
it's a I think it's a good offensive line draft.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Finally, Deon Sanders. Fourteen players leave, I said earlier transfer portal,
ninety percent of the players that you get or leaving
are not foundational. Quarterbacks matter more than any I don't
look at this as he's got a sales pitch. Some
kids fall in love with the pitch and move on.
What do you make of what's happening to Colorado.
Speaker 5 (33:19):
I think it's it's kind of reflective of a lot
of what's going on actually around the country, just to
not to the same degree. And I don't want to
say this is the exact or this is a cu thing,
but I think one thing I'm hearing a lot of
in this cycle is you're seeing a lot of kids
go back into the portal and after not being in
there very long, and what is happening is a lot
of players are finding out that the things they are
(33:41):
being told they think they're getting aren't exactly what they're getting.
They're not getting that much because they may be told, yeah,
it's going to be four hundred thousand dollars or it's
going to be two hundred thousand dollars, but it's.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
A car that you're getting a rental you're not. You
don't own it.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
So it's not like you or I could turn around
and sell it right right. It's a house that they're
that you're being you have access to, but you don't
own it. So there's some of those things that I
think are are are are tough for a lot of
the kids to figure out right now. They think they're
getting one thing, they're not. It's there's a lot of
times I've heard stories of guys who think they're getting
(34:17):
eight or nine hundred thousand, they maybe end up with
two hundred thousand, So you get some frustration on that.
And again I don't think this is you know, in
Dion's case at CEU, they were so bad when he
got there and he made us, you know, a huge
overhaul of the program, and I think a lot of
it is now you've had a handful of assistants. Sean
Lewis is offense coordinators now the head coach at San
(34:39):
Diego states, You've had some people come and go.
Speaker 4 (34:42):
I suspect, you know.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
Especially with Shador there, they will go as they go
into a new league from one win to four wins
at least I think eight, you know, I get it there.
I think there will be more, you know, significantly better.
I don't know how much better than eight, but you
know I I wouldn't. You know, You're gonna see a
lot of guys, especially with grad transfers come and go,
(35:05):
and I just think that people are looking for the
right fit. And sometimes people are constantly hitting the reset button,
like the kid on the video game who doesn't like
the start of it, and all of a sudden like
let me start that all over again.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Good seeing your buddy as all as Bruce Develpman the
athletic Fox Sports.
Speaker 5 (35:21):
You've upgraded your shooting guard here. I think I've seen
I know Jason fancies himself as.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
A shoot No, you couldn't have j Mac and Jordan
the same backcourt. It would be, uh it would it.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Would It would basically be a black hole. It would
be no passing bad shots.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
It would be Boe and Kobe White. You'd be fun
to watch, But I'm not sure you defend an.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
I think there's more Jordan Poole going on here.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Yeah, where You're too kind
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