June 20, 2024 • 33 mins
Colin has some questions about the Lakers as they continue to search for their new head coach. He shares his list of teams and quarterbacks he believes can seriously contend for a Super Bowl in the upcoming NFL season. Plus, Marcedes Lewis joins the show to talk about his 19th season in the league and what he expects from his new star QB in Caleb Williams
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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
noone Pacific. Find your local station for The Herd at
Fox Sportsradio dot com, or stream us live every day
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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 on a Thursday, live in
Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Wherever you may be, however
you may be listening. Thanks for megan us part of
your day. We had Tom Brady yesterday on the show,
jamac And because we do realize that people, it was
in the third hour the people come in and out
(00:47):
of our show, wander in and out of our show.
I'll play a chunk of that, a pretty sizable chunk
of that next hour stop next hour for the people
that didn't listen late in our third hour. To Tom
Brady yesterday on the show, I have a lot of
feedback on that. He said a lot of interesting things,
made a lot of news yesterday. So we'll take about
the you know, about seventy percent of it bring it
back to some of the more newsworthy comments by Tom Brady,
(01:10):
who of course debuts in the booth for Fox this year.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
J Mac.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
The Lakers, meanwhile, still do not have a coach. Get worried, Colin.
I saw some odds where Reddick is being linked to
the Pistons now, which would be humiliating something. So yes,
JJ Reddick talked about as the next Pistons coach. So
let's be honest. Football in America is the coaching sport
(01:35):
where you can take a roster, tweak it a little bit,
go from bad to good. I mean, Jim Harbaugh's done
it multiple times, Urban Meyer's done it at college. Bill
Parcells that it. In the NFL. You can tweak an
NFL roster, and coaches have more impact. First of all,
they have more power than other coaches. They have more
say and play calling than other sports, and they can
(01:58):
you can build football cultures. You're seeing her do it
in the Chargers very very quickly. And so NBA coaching
is a lot of managing personalities and egos, and the
Lakers just clearly do not value coaches. Strange considering the
best modern coaches Phil Jackson, but he did very well
(02:22):
in Los Angeles, but they just they don't value coaches.
They they view them as very disposable. And let's be
fair here. The last six champions are six different teams.
Half the coaches of those teams who are champions, they're
coaching somewhere else. I mean Nick Nurse, his coaches somewhere else.
(02:45):
Mike Budenholzer won title, got fired, he's coaching somewhere else.
And so I do think football coaches simply matter more
than other coaches. If you look at three of the
coaches we view as really elite, Steve Kerr, Greg Popovich,
Eric Spolstro combined last year won a single playoff game.
(03:07):
A single playoff game, Popovich got wemby no impact on
the win loss record. And Papovich is a good coach,
great coach. And I think there's a couple of factors here.
Number One, as salaries continue to escalate in the NBA,
with a new TV deal at seven eight billion dollars
a year, it's going to be harder to coach in
the NBA. Players are going to have much more say,
(03:28):
much more power. Donovan Mitchell wanted JV. Bickerstaff gone in Cleveland,
and he got him gone, he got him jettisoned. I mean,
that's just the way the league works. It's not a
knock on Donovan Mitchell. It's happened. Happens every year at
least once. Lebron's been that a couple of times under
the radar. So and the Celtics. Let's be honest about
the Celtics champion I mean, didn't that feel mostly about
(03:50):
not even players. It felt like it was driven by
general managers. Danny Ainge got Tatum and Brown to the
Celtics smart drafting, and then Brad Stevens, who didn't have
that much impact as a coach but great impact as
a general manager, went and got Derek White from a
tanking team, Porzingis from a tanking team, and Drew Holliday
from a tanking team. The Celtics don't feel like they're
(04:11):
Joe Missoula's team. He'd only had one year as a
head coach before Boston. It was at a Division two school,
so they built a good staff around him. But the
Celtics championship felt like Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens driven.
And that's not a knock on coaches. I mean they
(04:32):
threw Joe Missoula into that because of some actions by
the previous coach, and it was okay, we're fine, And
the previous coach was supposed to be a high rising
of sending star coach and Missoula was kind of like, oh,
could be in trouble here, and Missoula won the title.
So I look at this, what head coach in basketball
(04:56):
could take this Lakers roster over and make a real difference.
A football coach is difference. Well, Kerr pop and Spolster
can't even do that. I mean, Steve Kerr's great and
he's not available. So the Lakers, clearly, people's actions tell
you what they value. The Lakers are going to hire
their what seventh coach in thirteen years, and this Jj
(05:18):
Reddick thing, he's the lead, he's out, he's in Dan Hurley.
They just don't. They don't value coaches. Doesn't mean they're
necessarily wrong. I think they have some value, but they
don't have an NFL or a college football coaching value.
You are managing to a large degree, personalities, a rotation,
and egos. So yesterday Tom paula sorrow smart guy, was
(05:42):
on Rich Eisens show. He was talking about something you know,
the NBA's got this thing where it's called like a
super max, so players can only make you know, there's
a certain level on it. And by the way, I've
always felt that salary caps to some degree are like
sports socialism. But you probably need it because you have
big cities, small cities. And if you look at baseball
right now, the Dodgers and the Yankees big economies, like
(06:06):
they just dwarf other rosters. They just have more good players.
It's not even particularly close, and neither team has been
at full strength this year, and they're great. And so
Tom Pelasaro was talking about like a potential owners are
talking about it now in the NFL, a potential quarterback cap.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
There certainly has been discussion within the league rich among
certain owners about even the idea of a quarterback cap
that at some point you want quarterback numbers to not
go over a certain percentage of your salary cap. To
my knowledge, that really hasn't gained traction, in part because
so many teams have paid their quarterbacks. And if you
(06:47):
went to suddenly an NBA model where also you have
the max and the super max, there's really only a
couple levels that guys can get. Hey, Dad. It kind
of changes the dynamics in terms of how you set
yourself up salary cap wise or whatnot.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, I don't think it'll ever happen. I'm not sure
if i'd be four or against it. What I am
against is paying good quarterbacks great money, and it's always
struck me as odd. As much as America loves football
and obsesses over football, fantasy football, betting football, watching football,
we are a football loving nation. It's our soccer in Europe.
(07:22):
We love it. And you can put it on Thursday,
put it on Monday, put it on Sunday, put it
on Saturday. I mean, UFL just comes out. It's getting
like one point two one point three million people. It's
been a league for an hour and a half. But
it always cracks me up. If you go to the
last twelve quarterbacks that have won a Super Bowl, there's
(07:44):
only two ways to do it. Have a Mahomes Stafford,
Brady Peyton Manning next level superstar, like a really elite
all time guy, or have a talented guy on a
rookie contract Russell Wilson, Joe Flacco was in his last
year before he got paid. And then there was the outlier,
(08:05):
the Nick Foles, Carson Wentz Super Bowl. Both those guys
weren't getting paid yet. That's it. That's it. Last twelve years.
So when I hear media fans, I get. But even
fans I think are so much smarter today than years
ago with football because they watch it, they care about it.
You know, these people that are winning fantasy football leagues.
(08:26):
It's it's not easy, like it's competitive. Fans are smarter
than ever.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
You can.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
You can go ask people in the draft kings business
and those kind of businesses that the sports better is
smarter than he's ever been, and he's getting smarter. Except
when it comes to quarterbacks and saying pay two of
the bag and paid back the bag, you were immediately eliminated,
immediately eliminated. If you look at our last twelve years
(08:52):
from super Bowl conversations based on the last twelve Super
Bowls and the only two quarter who have won, which
is an all time talent or a really talented young
quarterback not making any money. There are only twelve quarterbacks
that are in the Super Bowl bubble this year. And
(09:13):
I'll give you those twelve quarterbacks, the upper echelon guys
who are really all time elite arm talents, and I
think you know who they are. We can put him
on the screen. Josh Allen Burrow, Lamar Patrick, Aaron and
Matt Stafford. I'll keep Lamar on. Though he struggled in
the playoffs, he wins seventy seven percent of his games.
And I think Aaron Rodgers, though he's old, with that defense,
Aaron still when he lets go with that football, it
(09:34):
doesn't look like almost anybody else on the planet. So
those teams are in the Super Bowl bubble. And then
the other six. These are six really good quarterbacks and
they're not they're not getting paid yet. I consider them
very talented and not getting paid. Justin Herbert, Jalen Hurts,
Trevor Lawrence, Jordan Love, Brock Purty, and CJ. Stroud. I
(09:55):
think Perty's the least talented, but he's talented enough and
he's not making a nickel and that's it.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Now.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Who's not on that list Jared Goff, who I think
is really good but not in the top six and
really really expensive. And as much as I like Detroit,
if you look at the last twelve years, there's two groups.
You got to be You got to be an all
time I mean Lamar Jackson is better in the pocket
(10:22):
than anybody wants to acknowledge. And he is the best
moving quarterback I've ever seen. And Aaron's older, but he
still slings it like almost nobody else can. So for
that argument, for Jmack, the Jets are in the Super
Bowl bubble. They have an all timer. It helps if
you're all timer. Isn't the highest paid quarterback in the league.
Brady took pay cuts, so did Drew Brees. But that's
(10:45):
kind of it. So for all we know about football,
and I think fans know more than they've ever known.
When I see people saying you gotta pay to it,
you gotta pay dak No, you can do that. It
will avoid chaos. But you're out of the super Bowl conversation.
And I don't think we'll ever have a quarterback cap.
But it's an interesting conversation. J Mack, Little, Tom Brady
(11:08):
next hour. Mercedes Lewis for years in this league, now
a Chicago bear. I'm all sorts of interested in that
he'll be joining us in our last hour as well.
Can I ask you how much it pained you to
leave Jared Goff off that list? I know he's wrong here,
My job is to be honest. It pained me to
put Aaron on it. Not really, but Jared Goff was
the one quarterback on a team and I like, Oh,
I like them, but Jared's really expensive and I do
(11:31):
not consider him. Now, I could be wrong. I have
been the biggest golf fan, but I don't consider him
in that group. I don't. And you could say, well,
isn't Tua's not getting paid big money yet Jalen Hurts
can do some things that no other quarterbacks can do
with his feet. Tua does nothing. Tua is literally weather affected.
None of those guys are weather affected.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
It's weird.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
You don't have this the MVP runner up on this
list either. No back's really expensive, and if you're gonna
be a really expensive then you have to be great,
not popular among voters. A lot of people, A lot
of people popular among voters. We've seen players win awards,
(12:11):
We've seen guys made Pro Bowls, and we're like, NBA
tends to vote for the best story. I mean, Jokicic
did not win MVPMB did. Jokic was easily the best
basketball player and the most valuable player in the world. Look,
how many MVPs, Michael Jordan won and Lebron won. They
should have double the number they won.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Then the only other guy was, you know, your your
favorite guy who throws the most beautiful downfield ball, Kyler Murray,
who's on a cheaper deal I believe than Hurts and Herbert.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Kyler Murray, I don't know, how do you.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
Leave him on?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Probably the last guy off, and I like him, I
know you do. Yeah, he's your guy. So but if
you look at Hurts and Trevor Lawrence, Jordan Love Brock
pretty c J. Stroud. Now, Herbert now is making about
eighteen nineteen a year, so that is not super cheap,
but relative to his talent, that is a bargain basement
generic quarterback salary. The other guys are six eight nine.
(13:02):
Their Jordan love stuff hasn't kicked in yet.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
C J.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Stroud is, you're basically paying him nothing. All six quarterbacks
with cap hits under twenty million dollars. So the talented
guys on cheaper deals, they all make under twenty million
dollars and they're all super super talented. Yeah, I think
I don't know what Kyler makes exactly, but he would
be one. I took under strong consideration. Yeah, and by
the way, I love golf, but he makes too much
money and he's not in the top six. So now
(13:26):
just for forget the quarterbacks for a second. Here are
the teams that I consider right now in the Super
Bowl bubble. Buffalo, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Kansas City, Jets, Rams, Chargers, Eagles, Jags, Niners, Packers, Texans. Oh,
by the way, this Kyler Murray's a forty nine million
dollar cappit. That's why he's not here, right, So he's
(13:47):
not good enough in the top. He's too expensive for
the bottom. So that is his cappit. Yeah. So when
I take out the quarterbacks and I just give you
the teams, nothing here bothers you because of the quarterback
I don't know. I mean Jags again, weaker division, they'll
probably be a playoff team. I understand the pushback, but
(14:10):
when you really distill it down to this, you're not.
But if I'd have taken the quarterbacks out and given
you the teams, it makes those feel like the team. Yeah,
except Detroit Detroit. Yeah I might have Detroit. Yeah, so
would I as a team, but they don't follow the pattern,
and it's inarguable. Yeah, and I love where Detroit's going,
(14:33):
So they're the one I look at and I go, Okay,
maybe maybe Detroit will break through. But the last twelve years,
it's either a star, you know, or it's a really
talented guy. I mean, Nick Foles is the outlier. But
remember Carson Wentz, who was in the MVP running got them,
you know, he was for most of the season. Carson
Wentz got them where they could get into the playoffs,
(14:53):
and rock Perty was so close. But he's on the
rookie deal, so it would account. And he's the lowest
paid franchise guy in the league right now. Oh you
called Brock pretty a franchise guy. Yeah, look at that.
The time is it's almost like leasing a car. It's
your car, but you're just leasing it. He's a really
good lease. They got him for a couple of years.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
All sorts of stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I have a topic today that's not a topic. I
wish it was, and I can't figure it out, and
I wish maybe you'll have the answer to it. Maybe
you'll have the answer to it, because I was talking
to the staff this morning. I can't figure out how
to make it a topic and I don't have the answer.
This stuff drives me crazy. When I see something, I
(15:36):
think it's something, I don't have an answer for it
because I you know, I do a lot of theories,
and that's what's fun about sports, not just breaking down games.
So I should give you that coming back.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
No, no, don't, don't give me a heads up.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
I just want to come in fresh, totally fresh. Right,
the audience can come in fresh and try to solve
it for me.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Noone Easter not a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
You're now entering the Noble Zone sponsored by Credible Great Rates,
none of the bull So how about this. The Indiana
Fever have won five of seven. Caitlin Clark was amazing
last night. Eighteen points, twelve, rebound, six, assist, four steals.
They have six wins. They're aller and six against the
(16:21):
two best teams in the league, the New York Liberty
Connecticut Sun. They're six and four against everybody else but
the WNBA, and we banged on them for this earlier.
Bizarrely front loaded her schedule. If they did not do
that she'd have eight or nine wins. She's gonna get
them into the playoffs. So they were the third worst
team in the league last year. They never at any
(16:42):
point won five of seven. She's already won as many
games for this team by June twentieth as they did
all through July last year. And that's with a goofy
WNBA front loading the schedule, which makes absolutely no sense.
It never did. We tagged them for that when we
first saw it a year ago. She was going to Indiana.
Give her some help. The NFL smartly figures out, Oh,
(17:06):
let's make these let's make these new teams, Caleb Williams,
Jim Harbaugh Chargers. Let's lighten up the schedule early, give
them some momentum. No, that's not what the WNBA did.
So once again, it is about Caitlin Clark. This is
not knocking the other players. But you are seeing now
a four pronged Caitlin Clark effect. Massive TV ratings effect
(17:30):
for her games and any game around her game. Secondly,
a massive business effect. For the first time in twenty
seven years, they will fly chartered flights. You're seeing a
massive social media effect. It is getting talked about on
shows and social media to a level like six hundred
(17:51):
percent growth and a basketball effect. This is very much
Lebron first. Previous to Lebron in Cleveland, they are on
like you know, seventeen eighteen games, Lebron comes in, they
went thirty five, and business is churning. So you are
seeing a four pronged Caitlyn Clark effect. They're not a
championship team, that's not what they are. But the basketball
(18:12):
is working, the business is working, the marketing is working,
the attention is working, the chartered flights have arrived. Here's
Katelyn that for the win.
Speaker 6 (18:21):
I think everybody just loves instant satisfaction in our world.
Like no one came in here and said we were
going to be WNBA champions from day one and let
in our locker room like that was never our goal.
Our goal is to get back to the playoffs, and
we're fighting for that every single night. There just needs
to be solid perspective on what this team can accomplish,
and I think everybody in our locker room had that,
and nobody ever hung our heads. We had the hardest
(18:43):
schedule to start, we didn't get to practice much, and
we're playing with the most inexperienced team in the WNBA.
So I mean, I think it's just this group is
you know, starting to click and build some chemistry.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
She always has the perfect answer to every question. A
five tool players with the media as well. So there's
the bad actors out there that want to make this
into Angel Reeves versus Caitlyn Clark. They're both fantastic. They
both do well for their teams. But you are seeing
Caitlin Clark's effect from basketball to business, to social media,
(19:16):
to ratings to merchandise. You know, when the teams in
LA have to move into a bigger arena in a
very distracted, busy sports market, that is a massive effect.
Good for her.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Noone Eastern a EM Pacific.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
Hey it's me Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast,
Inside the Parker for twenty two minutes of piping hot
baseball talk, featuring the biggest names of newsmakers in the sport.
Whether you believe in analytics or the ie test, We've
got all the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday,
(19:54):
so do your sofa favor and listen to Inside the
Parker with Rob Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever
you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I always think it's interesting. Mercedes Lewis was with the
Bears last year, but it's a reduced role. They have
Cole Comet. They brought in Gerald Everett, but a blocking
tight end, situational tight end. But it is interesting. There
are people like Tom Brady's and obvious we had him
on the show yesterday. Tom Brady loves football, he likes
the process of it. And Mercedes Lewis has been smart
(20:24):
with his money, made good money long time, and as
he becomes more of a situational player again. He played
in all the games for the Bears and what he
is asked to do is not pretty. He is asked
to put his hands on guys, defensive ends and block.
And Mercedes Lewis is now joining us Live. I love
seeing him. Most seasons played by a tight end in
league history. And I had Brady on yesterday and Tom
(20:45):
loves the process. But Tom doesn't have to block. Tom
doesn't have to put his hands on people. You could
have called it a career. You're a smart guy. You've
done well in your life, but you keep coming back.
You even keep coming back in cold weather, Green Bay, Chicago.
Did you always it has to be passionate in love
(21:05):
at this point, does it not for the sport?
Speaker 5 (21:08):
Yeah, I mean it's definitely. Passion is a big part
of it.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
I think that, you know, I always say, like, I
don't ever want to be on the couch one day
watch a ball and have the regret of not being
able to fulfill my passion and my dream.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
You know, this is a dream of minds since I
was seven years old.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
I've been doing this for a very long time, and
mentally I'm still in it. Physically, I'm still you know,
in shape and doing what I have to do to
prepare to play games and help the team win.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
So for me, it's really a no brainer.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Obviously, when that window closes, you know, it closes and
you can never get that back, and so you know,
I definitely want to tap into everything I have when
it's all said and done, it's all said and done,
I'll be happy with that.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
You went again. The Bears defense in practice at the
end of the year. I don't know how many people
outside of Chicago Mercedes were paying attention. The defense was
actually really good from about week ten on was it
just Montes Sweat, Matt Eberflus, It's a young defense. Did
it click? You were at practice? What happened? Why was
(22:21):
the defense so good? I think it was number one
in the league the last six seven weeks. What happened?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, well, I think you know, obviously the second half
of the season, the deepense starts really come on with
It really was the consistency and willing to come to
work and get better every day from the beginning of
the season. You know, obviously things are not always going
to go your way. There are so many variables on
both sides of the ball that happened and sometimes are
out of your control. But the things you can't control
(22:48):
is your attitude and your effort. And I can honestly
say from washing from the sideline, whether you know I'm
in getting reps, so I'm not getting reps. Those guys are,
you know, competing at the highest level. They're putting pressure
on each other to be right. And the communication just
got better and better.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
Throughout the year. And obviously with the acquisition of Sweat.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Coming in, that added another dynamic to the defense and
took a lot of pressure individually off a lot of
guys and they were just able to play ball and
not think that they have to go out there and
be Superman. So, you know, still adding pieces and doing
the right things. But I'm excited for what's going to
happen this season.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
It's kind of fascinating to watch Jordan Love. I don't
recall a quarterback where I didn't like him in the
first five weeks and I loved him by the end.
He had this massive explosion. Even Matt Lafleur, who's one
of the nicer guys, was pretty critical of him early.
Something Mercedes something, some switch flipped. I mean, you can't
(23:47):
go from him in week four to him in week seventeen.
It was a different player. He'd been in the case.
You know, he'd been there for three years, four years.
What clicked Because by the end of the season, when
he's going to Dallas, I'm like, oh, he's the best
quarterback on the field here. It's not Dak, He's the
best quarterback. What do you think clicked for him?
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I just think that, Uh it took it took him
some time this past season to kind of understand it, like,
you know, this is his team. You know, obviously being
behind a Rod and and and learning how to be
a pro and just the ins and outs of how
to go about your business.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
He had the best to levision.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
I just think towards the end of the year he
was just everything started to come together for him.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
You know.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
It was one of those things where you know, I
saw that coming from a mile away.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
The guy listens twice as much as he speaks.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
He just wants to be great.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
And I'm glad that, you know, he had success and
uh and and I hope that he continues to have
success because it's such a great guy. So you know,
when you stay diligent and understanding that's a team game
and and being.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
Your personal best is what it's about every day.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Knowing that guys are counting you, you're always going to
get the best out of yourself. And he was definitely
one of those guys that do that.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
What is the line all that moxie and experience from
you and now you have a rookie quarterback, is it?
What is the line for a veteran player? What are
you comfortable helping Caleb with? I mean, you don't want
to be annoying, but you want to help him. What
have you learned so far and what is that line
for you.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
I think it's always been about it's more pressure on
the rookies coming in or the young guys that want
to learn.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
And you can ask any of the guys that.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Are vets, the rookies that come in that are humble,
they understand that they don't know it all, and they
asked the right questions. We're more than willing to give
them the game. And I think that you know, in
Caleb situation is going to be one of those things. Obviously,
you know, coming in as a rookie quarterback, being draft first, overall,
(25:55):
it's a lot of.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
Pressure on you.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
But the more you can lean into your guys and
understand that we're all same team and you know, we're
all pushing it for the same purpose, and that's the
you know, in the pursuit of a championship. So I
haven't had a chance to meet him yet in person,
but we have similar friends obviously being in La Herd.
He is a great guy.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
So I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
And you know, I'm an open book and I'm looking
forward to taking one of my wing like Fred Taylor
and Kyle Brady did.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
For me when I came in. So it's gonna be
a great experience.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
So it's so interesting that you are. I just view
you as a you know, obviously you played with the Jags,
but I really and that was most of your career,
but they're a lower profile team. So I remember your
green Bay years as much as your Jacksonville years because
Green Bay's on TV every week, and now you go
to your most hated rival, same weather, probably a little
(26:51):
bit more of a night life one of my favorite
cities in America. But I don't think fans think about this.
You were in basically in roles with Chicago for the
last five years. Now you walk into that locker room,
is it you think it's gonna be a little odd.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Uh, It's not really odd for me because you know,
for one, my film doesn't speaking for me, so it's
not about me going in there and boasting and being
weird about it. And a lot of the guys like
I've been playing Bold when a lot of these guys
were in high school, in junior high So it's more
(27:32):
so just like the big brother role obviously, And you know,
sometimes I'll see those like I'll see comments on my
pictures sometimes or it said that bears post something about Uh.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
When when I resigned, it was like.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Trying to remember something I saw that gold be like, man,
why aren't you retired? Or I didn't even know if
he was still playing or this, that and the third.
I just feel like if I came to your job.
Let's say, if you work in a normal nine to
five job, and I came to your job and walked
in and was like, man, you're still working here, why
(28:11):
don't you retire? I just feel like, if you have
the fashion to do something right, and you're playing ball
or doing whatever you're doing at a high level, you
can control your destiny in a way. I've been playing
this game because I love this game, and when it's gone,
it's gone.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
You can't never get that back.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
And so these are especially these last like five or
six years in my career, it's been amazing because I've
been able to see it from a different standpoint. And
you know, obviously spending twelve years in Jacksonville was just
kind of in the mix of my prime, catching the ball,
doing all these things. But now my role is changing.
It's just been amazing to just be able to play
(28:50):
ball and help guys learn a game from a different perspective.
And I'm here to tell you now that, like, regardless
if I'm forty years old, I'm going into my nineteenth year.
You know, there's grumblings like, oh, he's a locker room
guy this and that. The NFL is not a place
to where you can hide, right, So if they're gonna,
(29:12):
you know, spend their money and invest in me, is
not to be just a locker room guy. Like and
I don't take it as that. I'll take my job
very seriously. I enjoy dominating at the point of contact.
And you know, it's just definitely a blessing on forever
and gratitude for this opportunity. And you know, I'm gonna
play this year just like I played every year, and
(29:34):
that has to get better every day.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
And you know something that I'm proud of.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Finally, if there was a guy he may be retired
now if he's playing, you may not want to say it,
but if I said to you there's one guy you
just didn't like blocking he was and it may have
been a unique player, but you look at it and think,
because you played two hundred and sixty eight games and
a guy that maybe kept you up the night before
or he had a weird style or body and you're like, oh,
(30:01):
this is going to be a just a I'm gonna
be sore all week? What guy? Because you're a block
and tight end you are, you are pulling guys down
that line. Give me the guy that you never you
won't miss.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
So as you're as you're describing like body types, and
I would, I would say Julius Peppers.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Julius Peppers.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
He's a guy that because I've always like for me,
the tougher matches for me are guys that are kind
of like built like me, long arms, reach, great center
and gravity, and twitchy at the point of contact.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
The actual.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Contact, the connection doesn't really bother me's more so the
twitchiness and him.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
Being able to get his hands on me because we
both have the same reach, right.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
So, Julius Peppers was always one of those guys. I
remember my first couple of years, two or three years
and Exenville when Javon Curse with the Titans, he was
another one of those guys. I think the taller guys
are more I feel like I'm going against myself right
(31:13):
like if like if I'm going against like one of
the guys that was shorter, but there was an animal,
was d white Frenie right, So going against the white Freenani,
he was gonna give you speed, quickness, power, twitch, and
just as IQ for the game was just off the charts.
And I learned so much.
Speaker 5 (31:32):
From him coming up early on into my career.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
That that experience kind of helped me go forward to
when I was gonna have the block guys of his statue,
the bigger guys. It was just more like, Okay, this
is gonna be mono and mono regardless of like the IQ,
the speed or whatever it is. It's like the reach
and the center of gravity would always I know when
(31:55):
I was meeting my match, and Julius Pepper's probably sits
at the top of that mountain.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Great Senior played all seventeen games for the Bears last year.
He has transitioned over. It's Gerald Everett, Cole Comet, DJ Moore,
Keenan Allen, Roma Dunze, Caleb Williams. It is and the
old line is now I believe fifteen and up not
fifteen in below. It is the first time in my
life that I look at the Bears and say that
offense is stacked and I can't wait to watch it.
(32:32):
As always, when do you report you going into about
a month? A little over a month.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Yeah, so we report July nineteenth, who got the Hall
of Fame game? So a little earlier than you know
years past. But you know, I'm out here training and
doing my thing. I'm in great shape. I'm down like
twelve pounds. I'm ready to go. So looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Great seniors, Olas my man, appreciate you, brother all right,
second oldest player to Aaron Rodgers, a total pro, one
of the great blocking tight ends. And uh, I mean
I was just looking at the players he has played
with and the coaches he has played with. I mean
Robert Sala was an assistant with the Jags when he
(33:13):
was when he was starting out, he played there. He
played there over a decade. Pro bowler Nathaniel Hackett, Matt
Eberflu's Matt lafleuor Mike McCarthy hasn't talked to Caleb yet much,
but both Southern California guys think they I think that's
gonna work.
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
noone 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 on a Thursday, live in
Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Wherever you may be, however
you may be listening. Thanks for megan us part of
your day. We had Tom Brady yesterday on the show,
jamac And because we do realize that people, it was
in the third hour the people come in and out
(00:47):
of our show, wander in and out of our show.
I'll play a chunk of that, a pretty sizable chunk
of that next hour stop next hour for the people
that didn't listen late in our third hour. To Tom
Brady yesterday on the show, I have a lot of
feedback on that. He said a lot of interesting things,
made a lot of news yesterday. So we'll take about
the you know, about seventy percent of it bring it
back to some of the more newsworthy comments by Tom Brady,
(01:10):
who of course debuts in the booth for Fox this year.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
J Mac.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
The Lakers, meanwhile, still do not have a coach. Get worried, Colin.
I saw some odds where Reddick is being linked to
the Pistons now, which would be humiliating something. So yes,
JJ Reddick talked about as the next Pistons coach. So
let's be honest. Football in America is the coaching sport
(01:35):
where you can take a roster, tweak it a little bit,
go from bad to good. I mean, Jim Harbaugh's done
it multiple times, Urban Meyer's done it at college. Bill
Parcells that it. In the NFL. You can tweak an
NFL roster, and coaches have more impact. First of all,
they have more power than other coaches. They have more
say and play calling than other sports, and they can
(01:58):
you can build football cultures. You're seeing her do it
in the Chargers very very quickly. And so NBA coaching
is a lot of managing personalities and egos, and the
Lakers just clearly do not value coaches. Strange considering the
best modern coaches Phil Jackson, but he did very well
(02:22):
in Los Angeles, but they just they don't value coaches.
They they view them as very disposable. And let's be
fair here. The last six champions are six different teams.
Half the coaches of those teams who are champions, they're
coaching somewhere else. I mean Nick Nurse, his coaches somewhere else.
(02:45):
Mike Budenholzer won title, got fired, he's coaching somewhere else.
And so I do think football coaches simply matter more
than other coaches. If you look at three of the
coaches we view as really elite, Steve Kerr, Greg Popovich,
Eric Spolstro combined last year won a single playoff game.
(03:07):
A single playoff game, Popovich got wemby no impact on
the win loss record. And Papovich is a good coach,
great coach. And I think there's a couple of factors here.
Number One, as salaries continue to escalate in the NBA,
with a new TV deal at seven eight billion dollars
a year, it's going to be harder to coach in
the NBA. Players are going to have much more say,
(03:28):
much more power. Donovan Mitchell wanted JV. Bickerstaff gone in Cleveland,
and he got him gone, he got him jettisoned. I mean,
that's just the way the league works. It's not a
knock on Donovan Mitchell. It's happened. Happens every year at
least once. Lebron's been that a couple of times under
the radar. So and the Celtics. Let's be honest about
the Celtics champion I mean, didn't that feel mostly about
(03:50):
not even players. It felt like it was driven by
general managers. Danny Ainge got Tatum and Brown to the
Celtics smart drafting, and then Brad Stevens, who didn't have
that much impact as a coach but great impact as
a general manager, went and got Derek White from a
tanking team, Porzingis from a tanking team, and Drew Holliday
from a tanking team. The Celtics don't feel like they're
(04:11):
Joe Missoula's team. He'd only had one year as a
head coach before Boston. It was at a Division two school,
so they built a good staff around him. But the
Celtics championship felt like Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens driven.
And that's not a knock on coaches. I mean they
(04:32):
threw Joe Missoula into that because of some actions by
the previous coach, and it was okay, we're fine, And
the previous coach was supposed to be a high rising
of sending star coach and Missoula was kind of like, oh,
could be in trouble here, and Missoula won the title.
So I look at this, what head coach in basketball
(04:56):
could take this Lakers roster over and make a real difference.
A football coach is difference. Well, Kerr pop and Spolster
can't even do that. I mean, Steve Kerr's great and
he's not available. So the Lakers, clearly, people's actions tell
you what they value. The Lakers are going to hire
their what seventh coach in thirteen years, and this Jj
(05:18):
Reddick thing, he's the lead, he's out, he's in Dan Hurley.
They just don't. They don't value coaches. Doesn't mean they're
necessarily wrong. I think they have some value, but they
don't have an NFL or a college football coaching value.
You are managing to a large degree, personalities, a rotation,
and egos. So yesterday Tom paula sorrow smart guy, was
(05:42):
on Rich Eisens show. He was talking about something you know,
the NBA's got this thing where it's called like a
super max, so players can only make you know, there's
a certain level on it. And by the way, I've
always felt that salary caps to some degree are like
sports socialism. But you probably need it because you have
big cities, small cities. And if you look at baseball
right now, the Dodgers and the Yankees big economies, like
(06:06):
they just dwarf other rosters. They just have more good players.
It's not even particularly close, and neither team has been
at full strength this year, and they're great. And so
Tom Pelasaro was talking about like a potential owners are
talking about it now in the NFL, a potential quarterback cap.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
There certainly has been discussion within the league rich among
certain owners about even the idea of a quarterback cap
that at some point you want quarterback numbers to not
go over a certain percentage of your salary cap. To
my knowledge, that really hasn't gained traction, in part because
so many teams have paid their quarterbacks. And if you
(06:47):
went to suddenly an NBA model where also you have
the max and the super max, there's really only a
couple levels that guys can get. Hey, Dad. It kind
of changes the dynamics in terms of how you set
yourself up salary cap wise or whatnot.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Yeah, I don't think it'll ever happen. I'm not sure
if i'd be four or against it. What I am
against is paying good quarterbacks great money, and it's always
struck me as odd. As much as America loves football
and obsesses over football, fantasy football, betting football, watching football,
we are a football loving nation. It's our soccer in Europe.
(07:22):
We love it. And you can put it on Thursday,
put it on Monday, put it on Sunday, put it
on Saturday. I mean, UFL just comes out. It's getting
like one point two one point three million people. It's
been a league for an hour and a half. But
it always cracks me up. If you go to the
last twelve quarterbacks that have won a Super Bowl, there's
(07:44):
only two ways to do it. Have a Mahomes Stafford,
Brady Peyton Manning next level superstar, like a really elite
all time guy, or have a talented guy on a
rookie contract Russell Wilson, Joe Flacco was in his last
year before he got paid. And then there was the outlier,
(08:05):
the Nick Foles, Carson Wentz Super Bowl. Both those guys
weren't getting paid yet. That's it. That's it. Last twelve years.
So when I hear media fans, I get. But even
fans I think are so much smarter today than years
ago with football because they watch it, they care about it.
You know, these people that are winning fantasy football leagues.
(08:26):
It's it's not easy, like it's competitive. Fans are smarter
than ever.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
You can.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
You can go ask people in the draft kings business
and those kind of businesses that the sports better is
smarter than he's ever been, and he's getting smarter. Except
when it comes to quarterbacks and saying pay two of
the bag and paid back the bag, you were immediately eliminated,
immediately eliminated. If you look at our last twelve years
(08:52):
from super Bowl conversations based on the last twelve Super
Bowls and the only two quarter who have won, which
is an all time talent or a really talented young
quarterback not making any money. There are only twelve quarterbacks
that are in the Super Bowl bubble this year. And
(09:13):
I'll give you those twelve quarterbacks, the upper echelon guys
who are really all time elite arm talents, and I
think you know who they are. We can put him
on the screen. Josh Allen Burrow, Lamar Patrick, Aaron and
Matt Stafford. I'll keep Lamar on. Though he struggled in
the playoffs, he wins seventy seven percent of his games.
And I think Aaron Rodgers, though he's old, with that defense,
Aaron still when he lets go with that football, it
(09:34):
doesn't look like almost anybody else on the planet. So
those teams are in the Super Bowl bubble. And then
the other six. These are six really good quarterbacks and
they're not they're not getting paid yet. I consider them
very talented and not getting paid. Justin Herbert, Jalen Hurts,
Trevor Lawrence, Jordan Love, Brock Purty, and CJ. Stroud. I
(09:55):
think Perty's the least talented, but he's talented enough and
he's not making a nickel and that's it.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Now.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Who's not on that list Jared Goff, who I think
is really good but not in the top six and
really really expensive. And as much as I like Detroit,
if you look at the last twelve years, there's two groups.
You got to be You got to be an all
time I mean Lamar Jackson is better in the pocket
(10:22):
than anybody wants to acknowledge. And he is the best
moving quarterback I've ever seen. And Aaron's older, but he
still slings it like almost nobody else can. So for
that argument, for Jmack, the Jets are in the Super
Bowl bubble. They have an all timer. It helps if
you're all timer. Isn't the highest paid quarterback in the league.
Brady took pay cuts, so did Drew Brees. But that's
(10:45):
kind of it. So for all we know about football,
and I think fans know more than they've ever known.
When I see people saying you gotta pay to it,
you gotta pay dak No, you can do that. It
will avoid chaos. But you're out of the super Bowl conversation.
And I don't think we'll ever have a quarterback cap.
But it's an interesting conversation. J Mack, Little, Tom Brady
(11:08):
next hour. Mercedes Lewis for years in this league, now
a Chicago bear. I'm all sorts of interested in that
he'll be joining us in our last hour as well.
Can I ask you how much it pained you to
leave Jared Goff off that list? I know he's wrong here,
My job is to be honest. It pained me to
put Aaron on it. Not really, but Jared Goff was
the one quarterback on a team and I like, Oh,
I like them, but Jared's really expensive and I do
(11:31):
not consider him. Now, I could be wrong. I have
been the biggest golf fan, but I don't consider him
in that group. I don't. And you could say, well,
isn't Tua's not getting paid big money yet Jalen Hurts
can do some things that no other quarterbacks can do
with his feet. Tua does nothing. Tua is literally weather affected.
None of those guys are weather affected.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
It's weird.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
You don't have this the MVP runner up on this
list either. No back's really expensive, and if you're gonna
be a really expensive then you have to be great,
not popular among voters. A lot of people, A lot
of people popular among voters. We've seen players win awards,
(12:11):
We've seen guys made Pro Bowls, and we're like, NBA
tends to vote for the best story. I mean, Jokicic
did not win MVPMB did. Jokic was easily the best
basketball player and the most valuable player in the world. Look,
how many MVPs, Michael Jordan won and Lebron won. They
should have double the number they won.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Then the only other guy was, you know, your your
favorite guy who throws the most beautiful downfield ball, Kyler Murray,
who's on a cheaper deal I believe than Hurts and Herbert.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Kyler Murray, I don't know, how do you.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
Leave him on?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Probably the last guy off, and I like him, I
know you do. Yeah, he's your guy. So but if
you look at Hurts and Trevor Lawrence, Jordan Love Brock
pretty c J. Stroud. Now, Herbert now is making about
eighteen nineteen a year, so that is not super cheap,
but relative to his talent, that is a bargain basement
generic quarterback salary. The other guys are six eight nine.
(13:02):
Their Jordan love stuff hasn't kicked in yet.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
C J.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Stroud is, you're basically paying him nothing. All six quarterbacks
with cap hits under twenty million dollars. So the talented
guys on cheaper deals, they all make under twenty million
dollars and they're all super super talented. Yeah, I think
I don't know what Kyler makes exactly, but he would
be one. I took under strong consideration. Yeah, and by
the way, I love golf, but he makes too much
money and he's not in the top six. So now
(13:26):
just for forget the quarterbacks for a second. Here are
the teams that I consider right now in the Super
Bowl bubble. Buffalo, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Kansas City, Jets, Rams, Chargers, Eagles, Jags, Niners, Packers, Texans. Oh,
by the way, this Kyler Murray's a forty nine million
dollar cappit. That's why he's not here, right, So he's
(13:47):
not good enough in the top. He's too expensive for
the bottom. So that is his cappit. Yeah. So when
I take out the quarterbacks and I just give you
the teams, nothing here bothers you because of the quarterback
I don't know. I mean Jags again, weaker division, they'll
probably be a playoff team. I understand the pushback, but
(14:10):
when you really distill it down to this, you're not.
But if I'd have taken the quarterbacks out and given
you the teams, it makes those feel like the team. Yeah,
except Detroit Detroit. Yeah I might have Detroit. Yeah, so
would I as a team, but they don't follow the pattern,
and it's inarguable. Yeah, and I love where Detroit's going,
(14:33):
So they're the one I look at and I go, Okay,
maybe maybe Detroit will break through. But the last twelve years,
it's either a star, you know, or it's a really
talented guy. I mean, Nick Foles is the outlier. But
remember Carson Wentz, who was in the MVP running got them,
you know, he was for most of the season. Carson
Wentz got them where they could get into the playoffs,
(14:53):
and rock Perty was so close. But he's on the
rookie deal, so it would account. And he's the lowest
paid franchise guy in the league right now. Oh you
called Brock pretty a franchise guy. Yeah, look at that.
The time is it's almost like leasing a car. It's
your car, but you're just leasing it. He's a really
good lease. They got him for a couple of years.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
All sorts of stuff.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I have a topic today that's not a topic. I
wish it was, and I can't figure it out, and
I wish maybe you'll have the answer to it. Maybe
you'll have the answer to it, because I was talking
to the staff this morning. I can't figure out how
to make it a topic and I don't have the answer.
This stuff drives me crazy. When I see something, I
(15:36):
think it's something, I don't have an answer for it
because I you know, I do a lot of theories,
and that's what's fun about sports, not just breaking down games.
So I should give you that coming back.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
No, no, don't, don't give me a heads up.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
I just want to come in fresh, totally fresh. Right,
the audience can come in fresh and try to solve
it for me.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Noone Easter not a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
You're now entering the Noble Zone sponsored by Credible Great Rates,
none of the bull So how about this. The Indiana
Fever have won five of seven. Caitlin Clark was amazing
last night. Eighteen points, twelve, rebound, six, assist, four steals.
They have six wins. They're aller and six against the
(16:21):
two best teams in the league, the New York Liberty
Connecticut Sun. They're six and four against everybody else but
the WNBA, and we banged on them for this earlier.
Bizarrely front loaded her schedule. If they did not do
that she'd have eight or nine wins. She's gonna get
them into the playoffs. So they were the third worst
team in the league last year. They never at any
(16:42):
point won five of seven. She's already won as many
games for this team by June twentieth as they did
all through July last year. And that's with a goofy
WNBA front loading the schedule, which makes absolutely no sense.
It never did. We tagged them for that when we
first saw it a year ago. She was going to Indiana.
Give her some help. The NFL smartly figures out, Oh,
(17:06):
let's make these let's make these new teams, Caleb Williams,
Jim Harbaugh Chargers. Let's lighten up the schedule early, give
them some momentum. No, that's not what the WNBA did.
So once again, it is about Caitlin Clark. This is
not knocking the other players. But you are seeing now
a four pronged Caitlin Clark effect. Massive TV ratings effect
(17:30):
for her games and any game around her game. Secondly,
a massive business effect. For the first time in twenty
seven years, they will fly chartered flights. You're seeing a
massive social media effect. It is getting talked about on
shows and social media to a level like six hundred
(17:51):
percent growth and a basketball effect. This is very much
Lebron first. Previous to Lebron in Cleveland, they are on
like you know, seventeen eighteen games, Lebron comes in, they
went thirty five, and business is churning. So you are
seeing a four pronged Caitlyn Clark effect. They're not a
championship team, that's not what they are. But the basketball
(18:12):
is working, the business is working, the marketing is working,
the attention is working, the chartered flights have arrived. Here's
Katelyn that for the win.
Speaker 6 (18:21):
I think everybody just loves instant satisfaction in our world.
Like no one came in here and said we were
going to be WNBA champions from day one and let
in our locker room like that was never our goal.
Our goal is to get back to the playoffs, and
we're fighting for that every single night. There just needs
to be solid perspective on what this team can accomplish,
and I think everybody in our locker room had that,
and nobody ever hung our heads. We had the hardest
(18:43):
schedule to start, we didn't get to practice much, and
we're playing with the most inexperienced team in the WNBA.
So I mean, I think it's just this group is
you know, starting to click and build some chemistry.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
She always has the perfect answer to every question. A
five tool players with the media as well. So there's
the bad actors out there that want to make this
into Angel Reeves versus Caitlyn Clark. They're both fantastic. They
both do well for their teams. But you are seeing
Caitlin Clark's effect from basketball to business, to social media,
(19:16):
to ratings to merchandise. You know, when the teams in
LA have to move into a bigger arena in a
very distracted, busy sports market, that is a massive effect.
Good for her.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and Noone Eastern a EM Pacific.
Speaker 7 (19:33):
Hey it's me Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast,
Inside the Parker for twenty two minutes of piping hot
baseball talk, featuring the biggest names of newsmakers in the sport.
Whether you believe in analytics or the ie test, We've
got all the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday,
(19:54):
so do your sofa favor and listen to Inside the
Parker with Rob Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever
you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I always think it's interesting. Mercedes Lewis was with the
Bears last year, but it's a reduced role. They have
Cole Comet. They brought in Gerald Everett, but a blocking
tight end, situational tight end. But it is interesting. There
are people like Tom Brady's and obvious we had him
on the show yesterday. Tom Brady loves football, he likes
the process of it. And Mercedes Lewis has been smart
(20:24):
with his money, made good money long time, and as
he becomes more of a situational player again. He played
in all the games for the Bears and what he
is asked to do is not pretty. He is asked
to put his hands on guys, defensive ends and block.
And Mercedes Lewis is now joining us Live. I love
seeing him. Most seasons played by a tight end in
league history. And I had Brady on yesterday and Tom
(20:45):
loves the process. But Tom doesn't have to block. Tom
doesn't have to put his hands on people. You could
have called it a career. You're a smart guy. You've
done well in your life, but you keep coming back.
You even keep coming back in cold weather, Green Bay, Chicago.
Did you always it has to be passionate in love
(21:05):
at this point, does it not for the sport?
Speaker 5 (21:08):
Yeah, I mean it's definitely. Passion is a big part
of it.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
I think that, you know, I always say, like, I
don't ever want to be on the couch one day
watch a ball and have the regret of not being
able to fulfill my passion and my dream.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
You know, this is a dream of minds since I
was seven years old.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
I've been doing this for a very long time, and
mentally I'm still in it. Physically, I'm still you know,
in shape and doing what I have to do to
prepare to play games and help the team win.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
So for me, it's really a no brainer.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Obviously, when that window closes, you know, it closes and
you can never get that back, and so you know,
I definitely want to tap into everything I have when
it's all said and done, it's all said and done,
I'll be happy with that.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
You went again. The Bears defense in practice at the
end of the year. I don't know how many people
outside of Chicago Mercedes were paying attention. The defense was
actually really good from about week ten on was it
just Montes Sweat, Matt Eberflus, It's a young defense. Did
it click? You were at practice? What happened? Why was
(22:21):
the defense so good? I think it was number one
in the league the last six seven weeks. What happened?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah, well, I think you know, obviously the second half
of the season, the deepense starts really come on with
It really was the consistency and willing to come to
work and get better every day from the beginning of
the season. You know, obviously things are not always going
to go your way. There are so many variables on
both sides of the ball that happened and sometimes are
out of your control. But the things you can't control
(22:48):
is your attitude and your effort. And I can honestly
say from washing from the sideline, whether you know I'm
in getting reps, so I'm not getting reps. Those guys are,
you know, competing at the highest level. They're putting pressure
on each other to be right. And the communication just
got better and better.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
Throughout the year. And obviously with the acquisition of Sweat.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Coming in, that added another dynamic to the defense and
took a lot of pressure individually off a lot of
guys and they were just able to play ball and
not think that they have to go out there and
be Superman. So, you know, still adding pieces and doing
the right things. But I'm excited for what's going to
happen this season.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
It's kind of fascinating to watch Jordan Love. I don't
recall a quarterback where I didn't like him in the
first five weeks and I loved him by the end.
He had this massive explosion. Even Matt Lafleur, who's one
of the nicer guys, was pretty critical of him early.
Something Mercedes something, some switch flipped. I mean, you can't
(23:47):
go from him in week four to him in week seventeen.
It was a different player. He'd been in the case.
You know, he'd been there for three years, four years.
What clicked Because by the end of the season, when
he's going to Dallas, I'm like, oh, he's the best
quarterback on the field here. It's not Dak, He's the
best quarterback. What do you think clicked for him?
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I just think that, Uh it took it took him
some time this past season to kind of understand it, like,
you know, this is his team. You know, obviously being
behind a Rod and and and learning how to be
a pro and just the ins and outs of how
to go about your business.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
He had the best to levision.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
I just think towards the end of the year he
was just everything started to come together for him.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
You know.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
It was one of those things where you know, I
saw that coming from a mile away.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
The guy listens twice as much as he speaks.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
He just wants to be great.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
And I'm glad that, you know, he had success and
uh and and I hope that he continues to have
success because it's such a great guy. So you know,
when you stay diligent and understanding that's a team game
and and being.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
Your personal best is what it's about every day.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Knowing that guys are counting you, you're always going to
get the best out of yourself. And he was definitely
one of those guys that do that.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
What is the line all that moxie and experience from
you and now you have a rookie quarterback, is it?
What is the line for a veteran player? What are
you comfortable helping Caleb with? I mean, you don't want
to be annoying, but you want to help him. What
have you learned so far and what is that line
for you.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
I think it's always been about it's more pressure on
the rookies coming in or the young guys that want
to learn.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
And you can ask any of the guys that.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Are vets, the rookies that come in that are humble,
they understand that they don't know it all, and they
asked the right questions. We're more than willing to give
them the game. And I think that you know, in
Caleb situation is going to be one of those things. Obviously,
you know, coming in as a rookie quarterback, being draft first, overall,
(25:55):
it's a lot of.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
Pressure on you.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
But the more you can lean into your guys and
understand that we're all same team and you know, we're
all pushing it for the same purpose, and that's the
you know, in the pursuit of a championship. So I
haven't had a chance to meet him yet in person,
but we have similar friends obviously being in La Herd.
He is a great guy.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
So I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
And you know, I'm an open book and I'm looking
forward to taking one of my wing like Fred Taylor
and Kyle Brady did.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
For me when I came in. So it's gonna be
a great experience.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
So it's so interesting that you are. I just view
you as a you know, obviously you played with the Jags,
but I really and that was most of your career,
but they're a lower profile team. So I remember your
green Bay years as much as your Jacksonville years because
Green Bay's on TV every week, and now you go
to your most hated rival, same weather, probably a little
(26:51):
bit more of a night life one of my favorite
cities in America. But I don't think fans think about this.
You were in basically in roles with Chicago for the
last five years. Now you walk into that locker room,
is it you think it's gonna be a little odd.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Uh, It's not really odd for me because you know,
for one, my film doesn't speaking for me, so it's
not about me going in there and boasting and being
weird about it. And a lot of the guys like
I've been playing Bold when a lot of these guys
were in high school, in junior high So it's more
(27:32):
so just like the big brother role obviously, And you know,
sometimes I'll see those like I'll see comments on my
pictures sometimes or it said that bears post something about Uh.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
When when I resigned, it was like.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Trying to remember something I saw that gold be like, man,
why aren't you retired? Or I didn't even know if
he was still playing or this, that and the third.
I just feel like if I came to your job.
Let's say, if you work in a normal nine to
five job, and I came to your job and walked
in and was like, man, you're still working here, why
(28:11):
don't you retire? I just feel like, if you have
the fashion to do something right, and you're playing ball
or doing whatever you're doing at a high level, you
can control your destiny in a way. I've been playing
this game because I love this game, and when it's gone,
it's gone.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
You can't never get that back.
Speaker 3 (28:29):
And so these are especially these last like five or
six years in my career, it's been amazing because I've
been able to see it from a different standpoint. And
you know, obviously spending twelve years in Jacksonville was just
kind of in the mix of my prime, catching the ball,
doing all these things. But now my role is changing.
It's just been amazing to just be able to play
(28:50):
ball and help guys learn a game from a different perspective.
And I'm here to tell you now that, like, regardless
if I'm forty years old, I'm going into my nineteenth year.
You know, there's grumblings like, oh, he's a locker room
guy this and that. The NFL is not a place
to where you can hide, right, So if they're gonna,
(29:12):
you know, spend their money and invest in me, is
not to be just a locker room guy. Like and
I don't take it as that. I'll take my job
very seriously. I enjoy dominating at the point of contact.
And you know, it's just definitely a blessing on forever
and gratitude for this opportunity. And you know, I'm gonna
play this year just like I played every year, and
(29:34):
that has to get better every day.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
And you know something that I'm proud of.
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Finally, if there was a guy he may be retired
now if he's playing, you may not want to say it,
but if I said to you there's one guy you
just didn't like blocking he was and it may have
been a unique player, but you look at it and think,
because you played two hundred and sixty eight games and
a guy that maybe kept you up the night before
or he had a weird style or body and you're like, oh,
(30:01):
this is going to be a just a I'm gonna
be sore all week? What guy? Because you're a block
and tight end you are, you are pulling guys down
that line. Give me the guy that you never you
won't miss.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
So as you're as you're describing like body types, and
I would, I would say Julius Peppers.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Julius Peppers.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
He's a guy that because I've always like for me,
the tougher matches for me are guys that are kind
of like built like me, long arms, reach, great center
and gravity, and twitchy at the point of contact.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
The actual.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Contact, the connection doesn't really bother me's more so the
twitchiness and him.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
Being able to get his hands on me because we
both have the same reach, right.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
So, Julius Peppers was always one of those guys. I
remember my first couple of years, two or three years
and Exenville when Javon Curse with the Titans, he was
another one of those guys. I think the taller guys
are more I feel like I'm going against myself right
(31:13):
like if like if I'm going against like one of
the guys that was shorter, but there was an animal,
was d white Frenie right, So going against the white Freenani,
he was gonna give you speed, quickness, power, twitch, and
just as IQ for the game was just off the charts.
And I learned so much.
Speaker 5 (31:32):
From him coming up early on into my career.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
That that experience kind of helped me go forward to
when I was gonna have the block guys of his statue,
the bigger guys. It was just more like, Okay, this
is gonna be mono and mono regardless of like the IQ,
the speed or whatever it is. It's like the reach
and the center of gravity would always I know when
(31:55):
I was meeting my match, and Julius Pepper's probably sits
at the top of that mountain.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Great Senior played all seventeen games for the Bears last year.
He has transitioned over. It's Gerald Everett, Cole Comet, DJ Moore,
Keenan Allen, Roma Dunze, Caleb Williams. It is and the
old line is now I believe fifteen and up not
fifteen in below. It is the first time in my
life that I look at the Bears and say that
offense is stacked and I can't wait to watch it.
(32:32):
As always, when do you report you going into about
a month? A little over a month.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Yeah, so we report July nineteenth, who got the Hall
of Fame game? So a little earlier than you know
years past. But you know, I'm out here training and
doing my thing. I'm in great shape. I'm down like
twelve pounds. I'm ready to go. So looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Great seniors, Olas my man, appreciate you, brother all right,
second oldest player to Aaron Rodgers, a total pro, one
of the great blocking tight ends. And uh, I mean
I was just looking at the players he has played
with and the coaches he has played with. I mean
Robert Sala was an assistant with the Jags when he
(33:13):
was when he was starting out, he played there. He
played there over a decade. Pro bowler Nathaniel Hackett, Matt
Eberflu's Matt lafleuor Mike McCarthy hasn't talked to Caleb yet much,
but both Southern California guys think they I think that's
gonna work.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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