February 25, 2025 • 43 mins
Thoughts on Matt Stafford reportedly wanting $50 million a year from the Rams
More on the Lakers playing the Mavericks tonight and how Luka Doncic has been playing since becoming a Laker
Guest: Daniel Jeremiah
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Foxsports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. All right.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Our number two first hour on a Tuesday was feisty
the way I like it. Jay McK and I not
agreeing whatsoever. I like my broadcasters to have teeth, get
after players. I mean, you're making fifty million dollars a year.
You can handle a little criticism. Remember what Adam Silver
(00:47):
a couple of years ago said, Our players are miserable.
They're on Twitter. Here's a solution. Get off Twitter, go
play basketball, work out, have fun, hang out with friends, socialize,
stay off Twitter. Maybe that would help.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I did that last week.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
It was so yeah, that's so the story. Today. Peter Schreger,
works at Fox NFL Network, came out to say that
Matt Stafford. We talked about this yesterday. The Rams and
Stafford have a fine relationship. They don't love when stuff
goes public. A lot of times with Stafford, the Cooper
Cup stuff. I'm told the Rams don't love that stuff.
But Stafford, according to Schreger, wants fifty million dollars a
(01:21):
year to play this year for the Rams. So my
take is I would give Stafford a two year, one
hundred million dollar contract. I would make it short and expensive.
I would not give him three and four years. So
the good news for the Rams is that their defense
is the cheapest in the NFL by twenty million dollars.
Why because they have nailed the last two years all
(01:43):
their defensive draft picks. Their defense is great, it's getting better,
and it's the cheapest by twenty million dollars. Basically, they
don't pay Puka Nakua on offense and Kyron Williams their
two best offensive players outside of Stafford. They pay Rob Hanstein,
a good right tackle, but they don't pay him exorbitantly.
And he's always been willing to kind of, you know,
on an annual basis, play the game and you know,
(02:06):
manipulate his contract a little to help the team. So
the bottom line, they can afford it. The Rams have
one bad contract. Cooper Cup has aged very quickly. That's
not a great contract. Philadelphia's got a bad contract too.
Everybody's got a bad contract. Everybody in the league outside
of maybe the Packers has a bad contract. They can
afford to pay him. What they don't want to do
is get trapped. The Cowboys are trapped. The Cleveland Browns
(02:28):
are trapped. When you pay a quarterback too much, they
get hurt, they're not available. They're not as good as
you think because quarterbacks age very quickly. Big Ben after
that elbow surgery, got old fast. Cam Newton went from
MVP to just didn't run very well. Carson wentz dynamic
to doa Aaron Rodgers Kirk Cousins last year in three
weeks aged overnight. So what the Rams don't want to
(02:51):
do because Matt Stafford is one of those guys that
will sit in the pocket to the very last second
and take a bomb from an edge rusher. Stafford has
taken a ton of hits. He's not mobile, he's a
pocket guy, he's a tough guy. He's always a little
dinged up. By week three on, he's bleeding somewhere. And
(03:12):
so they don't want to get trapped. They don't want
to beat Russell Wilson in Denver and Matt Slott better
than Russell Wilson or they don't want to be the Cowboys.
And Dak Stafford's a lot better than Dak. I would
pay him because they've hit on every defensive draft pick,
and I mean the last two years, every one of
them is better than you thought they would be. And
when you do that, they don't pay anything for their defense.
I mean literally, it's like it's it's the cheapest in
(03:34):
the NFL by twenty million dollars and they don't pay
Poker Hiro and Williams, so they can afford to pay him,
especially if their first pick is a left tackle. They're
looking at the kid from Oregon. If they get him,
that means now they're cheap at left tackle. So I
think they're gonna pay Stafford. I think they're meeting in
Indy at the combine. I think they want to make
it two years, not five, and that's where they are
(03:56):
right now. I think the team is too good. Again.
We talked about it yesterday. The Rams were driving in
Philadelphia in a snowstorm down to the fifteen yard line.
If not for Jalen Carter would have beaten the Philadelphia Eagles.
So this is a really good team. I wouldn't disrupt it.
Stafford's great, but he has taken a ton of hits
in his day and they don't want to get trapped.
(04:16):
And with that, he's joining us live from the NFL
Network at his twenty third NFL combine. Daniel Jeremiah for
the record, take today's combine this week and your first
How has the combine changed in relevance, importance, access, all
those things?
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Well, Colin, I remember my first combine. I was a
gopher for the Ravens. It was before I'd even been
hired there full time, and I remember walking the halls
of the old RCA Dome, walking back to the hotel,
and I remember thinking, what in the world are John
Clayton and Chris Mortenson doing here? There were two media
members here. That was absolutely it. It was just a
(04:55):
scouting exercise with no attention. And now today you can't
five feet without running into another reporter somebody else from TV.
It's just a massive, massive media event. The NFL is
king of making these events.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So there's about four players in this draft. I love,
I love Abdull Carter, Mason Graham. I think Team Act.
The receiver from Arizona is a really special player. It's
a small group. I do think it's the best running
back group I have seen in recent memory. I mean,
the kid from North Carolina maybe better than the kid
from Boise State. So and there are some group, but overall,
(05:31):
it's just my opinion, I don't see a lot of
star power. As somebody that's been a scout for multiple teams.
How would you view this if you were a director
of scouting for the Chargers tomorrow, how would you view
the draft?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Yeah, I would say it's a starter's draft, not a
star draft.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
I think Abdull Carter, Travis Hunter to me up there
at the top have some star potential for different reasons.
But you know, for the most part, you're looking at starters.
And when I evaluated draft when I was with teams
and the way I look at it now, you can
find three starters in a draft. Colin, that's a heck
of a draft. You mentioned the Rams. Look at how
they've kind of rebuilt and remade their team, especially on
(06:08):
the defensive side of the ball with back to back
drafts where they were rock solid, collecting all of these starters,
and once you have those position filled with starters, now
you can go shopping in the free agent market in
future years. Now you can invest some high resources elsewhere.
But man, this is a there's a lot of holes
you can plug in this draft.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So I said earlier, my favorite part of shador Sanders
and I think cam Ward is the better prospect because
he's more dynamic, bigger arm, moves better, He'll be more
of a playmaker. My favorite part of Shaduur isn't that
he's Dion's kid. It's that he had a terrible run
game and a terrible online for two years. So he knows.
And this is what happens when you're a lottery pick
(06:48):
draft pick. You go to bad teams and bad rosters
and bad old lines. Shaduur has had the worst run
game in college football for two years. He's had no help.
He's played from behind, he's played with a pass rush.
I think that's incredibly important as a prospect. What do
you think of him and does he have a comp.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Yeah, it's a great point, you know, it's it's something
that's you go back in history now, different style of players,
but Josh Allen had that at Wyoming. Patrick Mahomes, you know,
he started every game down forty points I think at
Texas Tech. I think that was a rule in the
Big Twelve.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
At the time.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
So you know, these guys have had to deal with
real adversity, and a lot of times you're seeing it
with with Caleb to some degree like that's this is
real adversity hitting him hard for the first time. So
there's gonna be an adjustment and I believe he'll get
on the other side of that. But there is there
is legitimate value of having had to struggle and not
have better players than everyone you play against, which you know,
a lot of the quarterbacks we've ushered into the NFL
(07:45):
over the last few years have been you know, LSU,
Ohio State, Alabama, you know, where they're playing with superior players.
There can be in a little bit of an adjustment period.
He's got his butt kicked, So I think there is
value there. The negative side of that is you can
get into some bad habits with him, maybe drifting a
little bit in the pocket at times, holding the ball
too long, you know, trying to make things happen, and
(08:09):
you know, those are things you kind of navigate and
work through. In terms of comps. He's a tough one
for me. I would say, you know, if Joe Burrow
is a tree of quarterbacks of that style, he's not anywhere,
you know, near the top of that tree where Joe is.
But that's the style, that's the format, it's the processing,
it's the anticipation, the accuracy, you know, maybe that over
(08:31):
you know, more overwhelming physical traits. That's the you know,
that's kind of the north star. That's the high high
high end. I don't necessarily think he gets there, but
that stylistically is a fit.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Okay, So cam Ward's got a big arm. It's a
little backyard football for my taste, but I do think
some of that you can coach out of it. How
do you view him Cambard, who's his comp.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Yeah, you know, you look, you can see a lot
of Caleb in his game, to be honest, from last year.
Just you know, there's there's the tools that jump out
at you, you know, the live arm, the ball jumps
out of his hand. I think he's got a lot
of twitch, not only in his release and the way
the ball comes out, but just in his feet and
not in the sense of I'm gonna go run for
fifty yards, but I've got a free rusher I'm real twitching,
(09:15):
explosive to be able to sidestep him and then deliver
the ball with accuracy. He's still loose, you know. You
can watch the cow game and watch him throw across
his body and cringe, you know, at a couple of
those moments. But if you've tracked him throughout his career,
I think he's improved in that area and cleaned it
up each and every year and had a big year
last year. Speaking of someone who didn't have a defense,
(09:35):
he didn't have one at Miami last year either, So
there's a lot to like about him. I'm I'm gonna
chase the ceiling versus the floor if I'm taking a
quarterback high in the draft. I just think when you
look around that conference, specifically the AFC, and is one
cyborg after another column. So you've got to go try
and get somebody that can go toe to toe with
those guys. I don't want to go with a floor
(09:57):
pick and then three years from now realize, Okay, he's
not good enough to navigate through you know, the burrow,
the Lamar Jackson's, the Josh Allen's, the Herberts, and on
and on we go.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
In the AFC, so you're on the Chargers broadcast, highly
respected his account, moved the sticks. He's on podcasts everywhere.
It didn't surprise me. I had the Chargers making the playoffs.
It did not surprise me. They had the decision. They
kept Bosa and Khalil Mack and they went Joe Alt.
So it's classic Harball. They moved off wide receivers. Now,
(10:29):
I argued. I argued, if you go to San Francisco,
his best receiver was Michael Crabtree. At Michigan, they rarely
threw the ball. It was a run game. So his
DNA is, listen, we're not gonna be We're not Mike
March's rams here. We're not the greatest show on turf.
That's not what we do. It does feel like the
Chargers in this draft have to get more dynamic on
(10:50):
the perimeter, does it not. Can you give us a
little insight with Harbaugh's second class.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Yeah, I think that you can look at Detroit as
the road map. You know, Detroit went and got all
the big rocks in the jar. They went and got
the offensive lineman, the defensive lineman, They had the quarterback
in place, and then they were able to go out
and get the explosiveness. And you saw once you have
that foundation built and you drop in and Jamior Gibbs,
Jamis and Williams to go along with Amanas Saint Brown
and you know Laporte is an athletic, explosive player, then
(11:20):
that thing goes to the next level. So I think
that's the next thing to do for this team and
for this offense. But Colin, I've you know, I think
a lot of teams have decisions to make here. And
I always advise, you know, hey, don't go to the
toy store until you've gone to the hardware store store first.
So I think the Chargers did some hardware store shopping
last year, and this year they get to go across
(11:41):
the street and go find some toys at the toy store.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
So I want to talk about the Stafford thing, because
in Los Angeles, you know, there's there's just we're all
kind of interconnected to a lot of the football teams
and sourcing. I'm told the Rams love Stafford and Stafford
likes the Rams, and I can't see him going to
the Giants and plan out doors with a shaky O
line like it's a really good fit. And because the
(12:05):
Rams have hit on so many of their defensive draft picks.
They're paying nobody on that side of the ball. They're
not paying Pooka, They're not paying Kyron Williams. Haven Stein's
got a realistic deal. He's excellent right tackle. They may
draft the left tackle with their first pick. They could
pay Stafford, But in your dealings in the NFL, what
you don't want is a Cam Newton of Bannon Kirk Cousins.
(12:29):
All of a sudden, you're the Thanksgiving and your quarterback
looks really old, really fast. What do you think is
a reasonable compromise for the Rams and Stafford? What? What
would you believe in all your years? Because I could
see two years, one hundred million walk away and draft
Riley Leonard in the third round. Your guess on what
they'll do and what they're looking for, because reportedly they're
(12:50):
gonna they're gonna sit down at the combine tomorrow and
the next day and try to make a deal.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Yeah, I mean you mentioned the reason to me with
how close they were in an NFC that's not nearly
as as stacked as the AFC is. Right now, they're
they're right there, They're right on the doorstep there literally
feet away from from beeing in another Super Bowl last year,
it would be hard to turn the page now. The
only thing I would say is the Rams have been
(13:18):
progressive and a lot of things they've done. They're very
well run, They're very smart and how they approach things.
And how many times have you heard from well run
franchises in different sports column that we're gonna we're gonna
move on a year too early versus a year too late.
So if this, you know, is something that that Stafford's
camp wants a longer term commitment, I could see them,
you know, literally putting a whiteboard up and saying, Matthew
(13:39):
Stafford at this price point for the next several years
versus all that we can do with the savings and
money over here on the other column. And I guess
you'd have to have some comfort level with who you
could have to replace them, you know, Is that Sam Darnold?
Is that somebody else that's out there? But I think
that they'll, you know, they'll explore those two opportunities. The
sweet spot to me is right where you are. It's
a it's a short deal. It's two years more than one,
(14:02):
not more than two.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
To me, that's the that's that sweet spot is they're right,
They're right there, They're right on the doorstep and get
into a super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
All right. NFL Network NFL Plus provide live coverage. It's
the Combine, it's the twenty third. In all your years
of covering it, you have Abdul Carter, I think, is
your number one player generally. Has there ever been a
shock at the Combine? Has there ever been a player
that you went, oh, my lord, he is way beyond
I can remember the tight end from Maryland. Is it
(14:30):
Vernon Davis? Yeah, he took his shirt off. I'm like, well,
what's going on? That was a moment to me that
jumped out. Give me a Combine moment that you can
reflect on. That was a shocker, uh to me?
Speaker 4 (14:43):
A Calvin Johnson barring a pair of shoes and I
think he ran in a low four threes at six five,
two hundred and thirty five pounds or something like that.
That one jumps out to me. The other one, which
took place underneath the stadium is I had watched I'd
done all the quarterbacks this year and had watched him,
and this guy was obviously incredibly talented. And I remember
(15:04):
walking in the hall and I under the stadium. They
were getting ready to weigh in, so he had just
his his compression shorts on and that was it. And
I walked by, and I was walking with a buddy,
and I said, Uh, what defensive end is that he goes?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
That's Cam Newton.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
I went, oh, my gosh, yeah, that was that was
eye opening. To see somebody that is as big as
massive as he was to move around like he did
was pretty nuts.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Daniel Jeremiah, NFL network analyst. He's sensational. Good seeing you
as all its Daniel get a sea bud. Yeah. I
remember years ago when I worked for the other place
I did. I think I may have done the Cam
draft and I remember, and it's all fuzzy, but Cam
was bigger than the first defensive end taken. And I
(15:49):
remember it because and I remember the defensive end was there.
I believe in the building and did not perform particularly
well in the NFL. And I just remember thinking when
I came off that draft coverage on the other place
on the radio network was size really does matter, Like
your initial view of something is just it does matter.
(16:09):
Abdull Carter for Penn State. When you see him you know,
when you see him in games and how he's cut,
he looks like a nine year NFL VET Miles Garrett
out of college. You were just like, Okay, that doesn't
look like a college athlete. I remember seeing Jamar Chase
at LSU and thinking he's just he's an NFL player
playing on Saturday. Like nobody in the SEC could stay
(16:31):
in front of him his catching radius.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Well, you got a great memory, Colin. I just looked
it up.
Speaker 6 (16:36):
Cam Newton first edge rusher was von Miller went to
he's smaller.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
No, that wasn't the one, though it was. It wasn't
that it was so it wasn't the Jolle.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Alden Smith was also in the top ten.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
No, who was Maybe it was the year before. Maybe
it wasn't the Cam Newton draft. I was doing ESPN
radio at the time, and maybe it wasn't the Cam
Newton Draft. It was either a year before after that,
and it was the first defensive end taken. And I
swear he was from Clemson, he was Southern, and I
was just so underwhelmed with his size and I and
(17:11):
I just remember thinking, he just doesn't look like an
NFL player, And he didn't do a darn thing in
the NFL. So it wasn't the Cam Newton draft because
Von Miller came out. Von Miller was great, he did,
but he was Texas A and m he was a
dominant college player in he all right. Chris Finch of
the t Wolves while to win. He's gonna get fined
(17:31):
by the NBA. So he's controversial. That's who we bring on.
That's last hour Live in La.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
The Herd one more Heard. The Herd streams twenty four
hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app.
Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Alright, all sorts of good stuff going on. Daniel Jeremiah
his twenty third combine, which it is interesting to watch
how the NFL has drown through the years. They moved,
they extended their draft, it's now four days, it's it's
they brought it back. They wanted more TV, they had
the combines now a thing. They move their free agency.
So again, these leagues, like college football, is making all
(18:08):
these moves and people are complaining about the moves. In
my take is do you want to grow or not? Like,
what do you want to do as a sports league?
Do you want to get better? Baseball took forever. Finally
they put in the pitch clock. Oh, what do you know?
Ratings went up twelve percent, Like, oh, let's get rid
of the defensive shifts. So when people complain about college
football making moves and the NIL and the transfer portal,
you can sit and gripe about things that are happening,
(18:29):
or you can move on, like stop romanticizing and collecting
baseball cards, like grow up. Things change, Like the NBA
right now needs some tweaks. I think they have to
figure out a way to make the game not quite
as monotonous. I also think that I've been saying this
for years. I think the NBA's got It's not a
regular season issue, because even during Michael Jordan, it wasn't
(18:49):
like we all sat around and watched regular season NBA.
I think the NBA's got a playoff problem. Is that
March madness, even the WNBA or women's college bassketball in
March Madness, they feel so urgent and we're becoming more
of an event society where UFC Saturday Night, College Football,
Pro Football, World Cup, Olympics, they're all doing great. NBA
(19:10):
playoffs that's the bigger issue. That's their best numbers, but
their numbers should be double what they are because it's
ridiculous to have a seven game first round playoff series
between a one and an eight seed. To me, it's
not a regular season NBA issue. David Stern, the late commissioner,
used to tell people privately, the big secret about the
NBA is nobody watches our regular season. I got news
(19:32):
for you. People weren't watching Michael Jordan play the expansion
Toronto Raptors. Nobody was watching that. But the ratings for
the playoffs were magnificent. The NBA's playoff ratings, to me,
are disappointing. There's no urgency in the society today. We
have become much more of an event society. We are
incredibly distracted. It's TikTok, it's social media, it's Instagram, there's
(19:56):
a million channels and platforms. You have to create urgency.
Three game first round NBA playoff series. From that point forward,
five game series, Max, Well, what about the history, Get
over it. The world's changing. Jmack with the news, Turn
(20:16):
on the.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
News, this is the Herdline News.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Go to the NFL with Josh Allen Colin. I mean
the MVP of the league. Just a spectacular season was
had by the Buffalo Bills quarterback. And yesterday at the Combine,
Sean McDermott spoke on his quarterback's MVP journey.
Speaker 7 (20:34):
It validates everything that he's been doing for years. It
validates his leadership this year, the way he's played on
the field this season, the way he's matured.
Speaker 8 (20:42):
Off the field.
Speaker 7 (20:43):
On the field, his decision making and how that's improved.
So all these areas that were perceived, call it gaps.
Josh has answered those gaps and he's closed those gaps.
And when you do that at the level that he
did it at on a consistent basis, the result was
was the MVP. And so to me, as I said
(21:04):
during the year later in the year in particular, he
deserved that.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Very rarely did great quarterbacks get trapped. You know, they
create so much freedom. I think it's fascinating how many
years in a row is defensive coach Sean McDermott been
unable to stop the Kansas City Chiefs in their last
game of the year, and it's amazing. Kansas City could
(21:29):
not move the ball against Houston and could not move
the ball against Philadelphia, could not move the ball up
and down the field against Sean mcdermot's defense.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
Okay, some referee aid calls, shall we say that in that?
Speaker 3 (21:43):
In that game?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
I mean, I feel like, how many more years are
we going to run this back?
Speaker 8 (21:48):
It's tough.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
I feel bad, a little bad for Josh Allen and
Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 6 (21:52):
They got to get over the hump. But we saw
the Chiefs in the Super Bowl look pretty weak.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I think Buffalo would put up a better fight.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Would you agree the Raider gave the Chiefs more problems
defensively than the Bills did. Am I wrong?
Speaker 5 (22:09):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I don't remember many Raiders games. They're too irrelevant, but
you could be right.
Speaker 6 (22:14):
Moving on, let's get to the NBA. Obviously, tonight's big
story in sports is Luka Doncic and the Lakers hosting
the MAVs first time since the Blockbuster traded for a
few weeks ago, and Kyrie Irving discussed his expectations for
Luca and the Lakers tonight.
Speaker 8 (22:30):
You know, outside of just the obvious of us being
you know, being in LA and being a former team
you know, Lucas Obviously, the narratives already written. I don't
know else I could really add to that. I'm pretty
much focused and telling my guys just to focus on
the high level game that we got to win. You know,
I would love to get into the motions after the
game warshoot, but before the game, it's just about having
(22:50):
fun and making sure that we lock in and have
a deep focus. They're gonna come in, you know, and
be ready to play against us. Lucas obviously gonna have
a lot of confidence that game. He played well last game,
so it was feeling good and I just got to
be aware of it.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I bet you Lebron has eighteen assists all the Luca
So a subplot. I know.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Obviously we're focusing on the Lakers, but the Dallas Mavericks
really need this game calling.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
They are falling.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
They're currently eighth in the West and they're only a
game and a half in the play in right now,
that's it like there's a chance that they miss the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
San Antonio losing Wemby that is an opportunity for Dallas
to sneak in.
Speaker 6 (23:26):
Well that who's gonna win it the Sons or Mavericks.
Who gets in the playoffs, Kevin Durant, Booker or Kyrie Irvan.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
I don't know if this sounds can get.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
If if Dallas was healthy. I think Dallas is actually
really not healthy. I know that's they're really good. Anthony
Davis gat over under on Lucas points tonight on on
the gambling.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
I haven't seen one yet. I will continue to live.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
It's got to be thirty five.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
He hasn't gone off really.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Well well Denver, Denvery did.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
He did and then he got to sit a little
bit because they were blowing him out. This could be
a blow out tonight. You gotta bet though.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Somebody just sent me, Hey Jay.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
What what about first half? Bet on the Lakers to
them they could be too amped. You know, you get
too excited, Luca, we gotta get you going.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
All I know is JJ, Reddick and Lebron are gonna
make a point. Everybody on that roster is gonna make
a point to get loog with the ball.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
Yeah, that would That would be smart all the time,
not just tonight. The final story, Colin is your Golden
State Warriors. I gotta call them yours because you like them. Now,
Jimmy Butler has been added to the team. They're now
five and one. Last week Draymond Green said ahead of
the All Star Game that Golden State will win the
championship this season, and he has since doubled down on
(24:31):
his podcast.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
I believe that we got the pieces to do it,
and like I said, I know what that look and
feel like you know what I say. So it's a
lot of people like, oh man, how he gonna say
that that ain't done?
Speaker 1 (24:42):
What Jay say? How are you gonna talk about how
to do it?
Speaker 6 (24:45):
They never did it?
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Like you got all these people out here talking about
what I said, how I'm gonna do it?
Speaker 2 (24:51):
But she did it before.
Speaker 9 (24:53):
I think that over and over over and over and over,
and I know where to look and feel like I
have one thousand percent wholeheart all ten toes down on everything.
I said.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Uh over under on Luca, the staff told me he's
thirty one and a half. I'm taking the over. He
may drop that in the third quarter.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
So hey, real quick on dre mind. I just looked
this up.
Speaker 6 (25:15):
So the Warriors are currently in the plan Colin. If
they get to the playoffs, they will either likely face
Denver as the seventh seeds.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Well Denver, Denver would beat them. It's a bad matchup,
but Denver can't defend, so it would be a good
series to watch, Okay.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
And then the other option if they get the eight
seed is okay, s are they beating?
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Okay? See Jimmy Butler and Steph Curtins. So like this, I'm.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Gonna tell you that would be the series. That would
be the best first round series in the NBA. Oh,
I'll be old, veteran, cranky Warriors and the new kids
on the block. That would be a great series'd be
great now. And here's here's what you worry about if
you're SGA. So Carl Malone, who lived at the free
throw line, didn't quite get the whistle in the playoffs.
(25:59):
James Harden, who lived at the free throw line, never
quite got the playoff whistle. SGA lives at the free
throw line. NBA officials do not give you the regular
season whistle, especially once you get to the second round
on so Oklahoma City. Just the way it works, Harden
and Karl Malone were guys that feasted on sitting at
(26:22):
the stripe. And you don't get that whistle. I mean,
you get to second round, conference finals, finals, they let
you play referees, let you play so Oklahoma City, is
not gonna get that friendly whistle like they do.
Speaker 6 (26:35):
Now you think Kurry and Draymond are intimidated at all
by Okay see Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Do you think they're afraid or you know.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
What's great about we gotta go to okay see for two?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Oh no, Jesus, guys, we gotta focus.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
You know it's it's we talked about this yesterday. Jimmy
Butler gets a lot of pushback because he he's very
old school. He's got a little bit of Kobe's and
Michael Jordan's sort of mantra, which is practice hard play
had I mean, if if Jimmy's missing a game, it's
because the heat is suspending him or he's hurt. Like,
he likes to play, and he likes to practice hard,
(27:08):
and he's very intentional the way he plays basketball, like
every possession matters. Very old school. Well, Draymond's old school,
and Steph Curry is a workaholic. So he really was
as everybody was worried about. Because I read a couple
of stories they said, you know, analytically is not a
good fit, but emotionally and intellectually, Jimmy Butler is a
(27:29):
great fit to the Warriors, and you gotta be careful
about analytics like sometimes like if you go back. I've
always said this about the Miami Heatles. They didn't fit.
First of all, they had no size, They had no
true point guard, and d Wade and Lebron are kind
of like different versions of themselves.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
What happened.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
They brought in Battier, Ray Allen, d Wade, Donnas, Haslam,
Chris Bosh. It was the smartest team in the league,
and they just figured out how to play. They just
outsmarted people on a nightly basis matchup spacing because they
really had no size. They were a bad rebounding team
in all four finals. So I think Golden State Butler again,
(28:09):
Draymond Curry, that's a team that curR the coach. They'll
figure out ways to manipulate a playoff game and steal
a game or two in a series they shouldn't win.
Okse has no experience in that space. I came back,
Are you done?
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Yeah, I've done done?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
All right? J Mack with the news.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
No, we're in this uh, we're in this news studio.
How long We're gonna be in this studio for like
three months, and it looks like the old thing, but
it's much smaller. I actually I really like it. But
they have a candy cabinet back here, and I'm not
I'm not only candy per se. At least I didn't
think I like candy. I'm I've gone through twenty seven
(28:56):
sour Patch kids in the last two days. I am flying.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Did you see they just stocked the Swedish fish?
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Oh no, the gummy bears. They're coming out of the
drawers back here dead. I didn't even think I like candy.
I'm living on it today. Forget the omelet. I had
a green, orange, yellow gummy bear omelet. That's what I
had for breakfast today. Got If they get corn nuts
in that place, I'll never do the show again. I
mean I'll be picking stuff out of my teeth. Chris
Finch t Wolves Coach Last Hour Live in La the Hurt.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 10 (29:32):
Hey Steve Covino and I'm Rich David, and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 11 (29:37):
You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm
Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
of course the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 11 (29:46):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world.
Speaker 10 (29:50):
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture,
stories that well other shows don't seem to have the
time to discuss.
Speaker 11 (29:59):
And the fact we've been friends for the last twenty
years and still work together. I mean that says something, right,
So check us out.
Speaker 10 (30:05):
We like to get you involved, to take your phone calls,
chop it up.
Speaker 11 (30:09):
As they say, I'd say, the most interactive show on
Fox Sports Radio, maybe the.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Most interactive show on planetar.
Speaker 10 (30:14):
Be sure to check out Cavino and Rich live on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to
seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific, And if you
miss any of the live show, just search Covin on
Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on
social media that's Covino and Rich.
Speaker 6 (30:30):
The Fastest Racing on Earth is coming to Fox a
twenty twenty five Indie car season gets underway in Saint Petersburg,
the first stop on the road to the Indy five
hundred Sunday at noon Eastern, Live on Fox.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
You know, I was thinking about this. People always talk
about the bias, uh in you know, political media and
and and you know main media, legacy media. There's so
much bias. You know, there's no question to me, in
my lifetime the media has leaned left more than it
has moderate to you, and they're paying the price now.
A lot of consumers have spotted it and don't like it.
(31:04):
But I always felt there was in sports media there
was an East Coast bias. It's not a big city bias,
it's an East coast bias. In a prime example, and
I've been reading stories over the last couple of weeks.
When I worked at the other place, the offseason was
dominated by the Red Sox and the Yankees because George
Steinbrenner refused to lose. He'd fired Billy Martin eight times.
(31:27):
He didn't care, he would pay. His kids don't have
his net worth, apparently, nor do they have his passion
for baseball. Because the Yankees don't have the money of
the Mets, forget the Dodgers. They don't have the money
of the Mets and Steve Cohen. So now everybody is
complaining that the Dodgers are going out and buying all
the best players. Those players are available to every billionaire
number one. And secondly, they're deferring payments, which everybody else
(31:50):
could do. So when the Yankees had the advantage with
the Yes Network and would dominate, I mean, Cecza Bathe,
you didn't even want to be a Yankee. He had
said I want to be a Yankee. And then they
finally just said, okay, we're gonna pay way more than
the rest of the market. That was totally celebrated by
the media. Oh, it was unbelievable. Red Sox and Yankees there, duh,
(32:11):
Cincinnati reds Pirates, Royals couldn't compete. Nobody thought a thing
of that in the East Coast. Now the Dodgers dominate
because they're deferring payments, and let's be honest, it's a
great organization. I looked at a stat yesterday only eighteen
money in baseball only accounted for eighteen percent of the wins.
That there was some analytic that, you know, the Dodgers
(32:34):
obviously can go buy better players. But oh Tani didn't
even pitch last year. He was just a batter. This
year he's going back to pitching and hitting. But it
is interesting when you talk about bias in the media.
I swear to God, when I worked at the other place,
all I heard my bosses would come bouncing down the
hall every time there was a trade or an acquisition
that benefited the Yankees or the Red Sox. And now
(32:56):
everybody's in a tizzy because the Dodgers have richer owners.
But the other thing about the Dodgers is they just
care more, just like George Steinmenner Steinbrenner cared more than
his kids do. That's a big part of it. And
the Dodgers, anybody, all these billionaires could defer payments. They've
just figured out, with some risk, a way to do it.
(33:17):
It hasn't always panned out. A couple of their acquisitions
have not done as planned. They didn't turn out to
be the human being they thought or the player they thought.
But I don't buy all this all. What the Dodgers
are doing, it's ruining baseball. The bottom line is baseball
once you got out of the seventies and early eighties.
(33:39):
The big markets have always had an advantage. I mean,
the Atlanta Braves are well capitalized, they always have good players.
Houston Astros, that's a big city with a lot of money.
They sell out their stadium, they have unbelievable support. They
can go pay for players that maybe in Arizona or
a Seattle or an Oakland couldn't. That's baseball. If you
want to have a rigid salary cap, owners could do it.
(34:00):
They don't want to. But yeah, this this I just
I'm reading stories as we're going when we're in spring training. Now,
give me a break about lamenting what the Dodgers are doing.
Anybody could do it.
Speaker 5 (34:15):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
I was thinking about this this morning. I was listening
to Stephen Jones. So the Cowboys obviously have multiple problems.
Their roster's not very good. They've overpaid for Dak. All
you Dak fanboys in Dallas, how's it feel like? Now
he's gonna be a ninety million dollar cap hit next year,
Josh Allen is less than half that.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
You can manipulate that and work around it, But I
don't know how you can get it down. You're not
gonna get it down to thirty or forty million, So
you wanted him to get paid. Here's what it looks like.
But Stephen Jones, the Cowboys don't only have a production problem,
they have a messaging problem. Here's Stephen Jones.
Speaker 12 (34:52):
We're gonna look at everything we can. We're gonna be
selectively aggressive. We obviously, you know there's things in this
league you have to Yeah, you know you have certain
amount of resources they allow you to have, and you
know we'll look at that. But we're gonna try to
improve our football team. Not try, We're gonna improve our
football team, and you know.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
We expect to have success next year. Their messaging is
a downer. We're gonna be selectively aggressive. How come Philadelphia
is just aggressive? Not selectively They paid their quarterback and
aj Brown and Alice Goddard and Devonte Smith they will
and Saquon Barkley and and they slay in the back
(35:34):
end and defensive linement. I mean, what is this? Selectively aggressive?
Philadelphia is just aggressive. I saw a story this morning
Eagles interested in Miles Garrett like, and the Cowboys are
are cutting coupons and groupons, like what are we doing here?
So it's Dallas right now and the Lakers were in
(35:57):
this space until Luca arrived and they stole them from them.
As the Cowboys are a downer. I mean, there is
more hope next year with the Chicago Bears than with
the Dallas Cowboys, you know, and a lot of this
is I mean they you know what they've become, the Cowboys,
that become the classic house poor where you go over
(36:17):
your skis a little bit on your mortgage and you
have eleven bedrooms in thirteen bathrooms, but you can't afford
you know, you got Brian Schottenneimer on the grill for
dinner tonight. You don't have much because you can't afford
anything else. And that's the DAK contract. But I mean
they just don't have a diversified portfolio. It's ceedee lamb
overpaid Dak, cross your fingers on Micah. And they're coming
off back to back drafts that just didn't relinquish much.
(36:40):
So but I find the Cowboys messaging is how long
are they going to be up against it? Like? How
many years? I mean the Denver Broncos get really behind
the eight ball with Russell Wilson's contract and for a
year at ugly, the following year they're in the playoffs,
they get bo Nick, they hit on like four draft picks,
(37:02):
they're fine. Like they're getting out of the woods. Like
a year and a half later, they're getting out of
the woods. Now Cleveland's a mess. But if Cleveland gets
Shado or Sanders or cam Ward, they'll be fine. Like
how many years do you have to hear about the Cowboys? Well,
we'll be selectively aggressive. What does that mean? I mean
(37:22):
at one point the Rams were paying Jared Goff's salary
in Detroit and Matt staffords and they were still aggressive.
You start examining the Dallas Cowboys and the messaging is bad,
and it's a downer and it's a bummer and they
don't have any money. Again again, I'm looking at who
the Ravens are paying. They can afford Derrick Henry. I
(37:44):
look at Buffalo, they're paying a lot of people they
gna pay. They paid Amari Cooper, Philadelphia's paying everybody. San
Francisco is paying a lot of people. I don't know.
It's when I read the Eagles or pursuing Miles Garrett
and you're gonna be selectively aggressive, and Zach Martin just retired,
it seems problematic. You know my favorite moment today on
(38:05):
the show J Mack and this got j Mack. J
Mack's been on this now for weeks, which is Channing
Fry coming out and I think taking a shot. I do.
I do believe it does feel a little bit like
a shot at Barkley and Charles obviously is is? I mean,
(38:25):
it's a it's an entertainment vehicle. They do tend to
bash more than a certainly more than other NBA.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
They're a league partner. That needs to be said, as
a league partner they're bashing.
Speaker 6 (38:36):
Right, we're not league partners. You're at Fox with the
NBA dnt is continue.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Well, okay, that's a good that's a good point. League partner.
Should commissioners be telling journalists and opinionists what to say? No,
I don't think so either.
Speaker 6 (38:52):
But when you turn on any any show that does
an NFL pregame show, are they blasting the players and
ripping them?
Speaker 3 (38:58):
Oh they're not that good?
Speaker 1 (38:59):
But as you know, what are the consumers saying? The
consumers are telling you this is the one show we like.
Speaker 6 (39:05):
Of course, because hate travels much faster than positivity. Look online,
it's all hate. It's a hater's ball, a hater's cauldron online.
So Barkley and Shack is what they do. They just
take dumps on every player.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Are we haters?
Speaker 3 (39:17):
We're not haters. I mean, I don't like certain teams,
but I'm not a hater.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
So this is the channing Fry sound that j Mack
and I think he could be right, is just taking
a shot at Charles Barkley.
Speaker 5 (39:29):
Nostalgia is killing the NBA. That nineties basketball Michael Jordan
and Kobe was not as clean as y'all think it was.
Every great player, whether that's at wemby Ron, you know,
Steph this this that you know, they.
Speaker 9 (39:48):
Compare them to a month forty years ago. The rules
weren't even the same. Nobody celebrates these new people. So
why the would anybody want to be the face of
this league. You're gonna get on every network for not
being somebody from forty years ago.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
Brown is one of the greatest players ever to play.
Stephen Curry is one of the greatest players ever to play.
Speaker 9 (40:12):
Jannis is one of the great Jokic And you know
what we do, we talk about Michael Jordan.
Speaker 3 (40:18):
All this superstar era is over.
Speaker 6 (40:23):
Hey, by the way, you know Gilbert Arenas, right, Yeah,
former star talented. He also has taken shots recently. I
was on vacation when somebody sent it to me about
the inside the NBA crew and the just a constant negativity.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
So that's now Channing Frye, Gilbert Arenas, Jason McIntyre, Colin Cowher. No,
it's starting to don't starting to see.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Don't lump me into that. I think it's the best
show by far, and I think it's the one NBA
show where I get a real honest opinion. I like it.
I think even for.
Speaker 6 (40:52):
Guys protecting their era, oh nineties, we were the best ever.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
No, I've said before. I think it's I mean that
Nicks Pacers series, Reggie Miller's Spike Lee stuff. You can
do documentaries all day long. There were fifty sixty free
throws in those games. The games weren't nearly as good.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
As fifty seven ninety four, like that nineties.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
There were scores in the seven Yeah, I mean, come on,
it was brick, it was masonry. It was bricks everywhere
in free throw shooting. So you know, I don't romanticize
the seventies NBA. I loved Jordan and I love Magic
and Bird. I thought the Warriors Kevin Durant was as
much fun as I've had watched in the NBA lebron
winning at Golden State Lebron winning a time. I was
(41:31):
like emotional watching that. I had more fun watching the
Heatles than I I'm not one of those guys.
Speaker 11 (41:37):
You know.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
JJ Reddick is in my camp on this.
Speaker 6 (41:39):
When he was doing his podcast, he there's some guy,
some New York radio hosts mad Dog, and Reddick kind
of went at him. Was like, listen, Bob Coozy couldn't
dribble with his left hand. Go find a video of
Coozy dribbling was the left hand.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
And of course this mad Dog guy, his head explodes
and Reddick.
Speaker 6 (41:54):
Whatever, Well, I think he look at the video dribbling
with his head down.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
With He's very much an old He likes talking, you know,
sixty seven that his style. That's very New York. They
love the old days Zach.
Speaker 6 (42:06):
They don't think that anything of Zach Lavine, who would
have averaged like ninety seven points a game in the sixties.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
But I'll push back on this.
Speaker 6 (42:13):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Also, Barkley has hammered the Lakers for years by the
way he should by the way, not very well run
in Kobe's last five years, not very well.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
That's fine, you can bash to Kobe. Here, Lebron gets her,
they win a championship. Now you know who.
Speaker 6 (42:30):
Barkley's old best friend used to be a guy named
Michael Jordan. So he's protecting Michael Jordan by taking shots
at Lebron. Talk to well, they're not friends anymore, but
Barkley still obviously everybody wants to be friends with Jordan,
and he's Michael Jordan. So Barkley's always bashing Lebron. Remember recently,
Lebron had a ridiculous dunk and Barkley goes, why are
we showing this for like the seventh time?
Speaker 3 (42:49):
What you don't hear that? You got me a Josh
Allen touchdown pass? I'll watch it seventy five times, Like.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
I don't know. I think I think ratings are a
bit of a true serum, and I think the ratings
for that show are very strong, and because people feel
they're getting a straight, unbiased, brutally on it. They're saying
stuff that everybody says in their living room watching the game.
That's what they're doing, and people respond to it.
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Foxsports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. All right.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Our number two first hour on a Tuesday was feisty
the way I like it. Jay McK and I not
agreeing whatsoever. I like my broadcasters to have teeth, get
after players. I mean, you're making fifty million dollars a year.
You can handle a little criticism. Remember what Adam Silver
(00:47):
a couple of years ago said, Our players are miserable.
They're on Twitter. Here's a solution. Get off Twitter, go
play basketball, work out, have fun, hang out with friends, socialize,
stay off Twitter. Maybe that would help.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I did that last week.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
It was so yeah, that's so the story. Today. Peter Schreger,
works at Fox NFL Network, came out to say that
Matt Stafford. We talked about this yesterday. The Rams and
Stafford have a fine relationship. They don't love when stuff
goes public. A lot of times with Stafford, the Cooper
Cup stuff. I'm told the Rams don't love that stuff.
But Stafford, according to Schreger, wants fifty million dollars a
(01:21):
year to play this year for the Rams. So my
take is I would give Stafford a two year, one
hundred million dollar contract. I would make it short and expensive.
I would not give him three and four years. So
the good news for the Rams is that their defense
is the cheapest in the NFL by twenty million dollars.
Why because they have nailed the last two years all
(01:43):
their defensive draft picks. Their defense is great, it's getting better,
and it's the cheapest by twenty million dollars. Basically, they
don't pay Puka Nakua on offense and Kyron Williams their
two best offensive players outside of Stafford. They pay Rob Hanstein,
a good right tackle, but they don't pay him exorbitantly.
And he's always been willing to kind of, you know,
on an annual basis, play the game and you know,
(02:06):
manipulate his contract a little to help the team. So
the bottom line, they can afford it. The Rams have
one bad contract. Cooper Cup has aged very quickly. That's
not a great contract. Philadelphia's got a bad contract too.
Everybody's got a bad contract. Everybody in the league outside
of maybe the Packers has a bad contract. They can
afford to pay him. What they don't want to do
is get trapped. The Cowboys are trapped. The Cleveland Browns
(02:28):
are trapped. When you pay a quarterback too much, they
get hurt, they're not available. They're not as good as
you think because quarterbacks age very quickly. Big Ben after
that elbow surgery, got old fast. Cam Newton went from
MVP to just didn't run very well. Carson wentz dynamic
to doa Aaron Rodgers Kirk Cousins last year in three
weeks aged overnight. So what the Rams don't want to
(02:51):
do because Matt Stafford is one of those guys that
will sit in the pocket to the very last second
and take a bomb from an edge rusher. Stafford has
taken a ton of hits. He's not mobile, he's a
pocket guy, he's a tough guy. He's always a little
dinged up. By week three on, he's bleeding somewhere. And
(03:12):
so they don't want to get trapped. They don't want
to beat Russell Wilson in Denver and Matt Slott better
than Russell Wilson or they don't want to be the Cowboys.
And Dak Stafford's a lot better than Dak. I would
pay him because they've hit on every defensive draft pick,
and I mean the last two years, every one of
them is better than you thought they would be. And
when you do that, they don't pay anything for their defense.
I mean literally, it's like it's it's the cheapest in
(03:34):
the NFL by twenty million dollars and they don't pay
Poker Hiro and Williams, so they can afford to pay him,
especially if their first pick is a left tackle. They're
looking at the kid from Oregon. If they get him,
that means now they're cheap at left tackle. So I
think they're gonna pay Stafford. I think they're meeting in
Indy at the combine. I think they want to make
it two years, not five, and that's where they are
(03:56):
right now. I think the team is too good. Again.
We talked about it yesterday. The Rams were driving in
Philadelphia in a snowstorm down to the fifteen yard line.
If not for Jalen Carter would have beaten the Philadelphia Eagles.
So this is a really good team. I wouldn't disrupt it.
Stafford's great, but he has taken a ton of hits
in his day and they don't want to get trapped.
(04:16):
And with that, he's joining us live from the NFL
Network at his twenty third NFL combine. Daniel Jeremiah for
the record, take today's combine this week and your first
How has the combine changed in relevance, importance, access, all
those things?
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Well, Colin, I remember my first combine. I was a
gopher for the Ravens. It was before I'd even been
hired there full time, and I remember walking the halls
of the old RCA Dome, walking back to the hotel,
and I remember thinking, what in the world are John
Clayton and Chris Mortenson doing here? There were two media
members here. That was absolutely it. It was just a
(04:55):
scouting exercise with no attention. And now today you can't
five feet without running into another reporter somebody else from TV.
It's just a massive, massive media event. The NFL is
king of making these events.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So there's about four players in this draft. I love,
I love Abdull Carter, Mason Graham. I think Team Act.
The receiver from Arizona is a really special player. It's
a small group. I do think it's the best running
back group I have seen in recent memory. I mean,
the kid from North Carolina maybe better than the kid
from Boise State. So and there are some group, but overall,
(05:31):
it's just my opinion, I don't see a lot of
star power. As somebody that's been a scout for multiple teams.
How would you view this if you were a director
of scouting for the Chargers tomorrow, how would you view
the draft?
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Yeah, I would say it's a starter's draft, not a
star draft.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
I think Abdull Carter, Travis Hunter to me up there
at the top have some star potential for different reasons.
But you know, for the most part, you're looking at starters.
And when I evaluated draft when I was with teams
and the way I look at it now, you can
find three starters in a draft. Colin, that's a heck
of a draft. You mentioned the Rams. Look at how
they've kind of rebuilt and remade their team, especially on
(06:08):
the defensive side of the ball with back to back
drafts where they were rock solid, collecting all of these starters,
and once you have those position filled with starters, now
you can go shopping in the free agent market in
future years. Now you can invest some high resources elsewhere.
But man, this is a there's a lot of holes
you can plug in this draft.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
So I said earlier, my favorite part of shador Sanders
and I think cam Ward is the better prospect because
he's more dynamic, bigger arm, moves better, He'll be more
of a playmaker. My favorite part of Shaduur isn't that
he's Dion's kid. It's that he had a terrible run
game and a terrible online for two years. So he knows.
And this is what happens when you're a lottery pick
(06:48):
draft pick. You go to bad teams and bad rosters
and bad old lines. Shaduur has had the worst run
game in college football for two years. He's had no help.
He's played from behind, he's played with a pass rush.
I think that's incredibly important as a prospect. What do
you think of him and does he have a comp.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Yeah, it's a great point, you know, it's it's something
that's you go back in history now, different style of players,
but Josh Allen had that at Wyoming. Patrick Mahomes, you know,
he started every game down forty points I think at
Texas Tech. I think that was a rule in the
Big Twelve.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
At the time.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
So you know, these guys have had to deal with
real adversity, and a lot of times you're seeing it
with with Caleb to some degree like that's this is
real adversity hitting him hard for the first time. So
there's gonna be an adjustment and I believe he'll get
on the other side of that. But there is there
is legitimate value of having had to struggle and not
have better players than everyone you play against, which you know,
a lot of the quarterbacks we've ushered into the NFL
(07:45):
over the last few years have been you know, LSU,
Ohio State, Alabama, you know, where they're playing with superior players.
There can be in a little bit of an adjustment period.
He's got his butt kicked, So I think there is
value there. The negative side of that is you can
get into some bad habits with him, maybe drifting a
little bit in the pocket at times, holding the ball
too long, you know, trying to make things happen, and
(08:09):
you know, those are things you kind of navigate and
work through. In terms of comps. He's a tough one
for me. I would say, you know, if Joe Burrow
is a tree of quarterbacks of that style, he's not anywhere,
you know, near the top of that tree where Joe is.
But that's the style, that's the format, it's the processing,
it's the anticipation, the accuracy, you know, maybe that over
(08:31):
you know, more overwhelming physical traits. That's the you know,
that's kind of the north star. That's the high high
high end. I don't necessarily think he gets there, but
that stylistically is a fit.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Okay, So cam Ward's got a big arm. It's a
little backyard football for my taste, but I do think
some of that you can coach out of it. How
do you view him Cambard, who's his comp.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Yeah, you know, you look, you can see a lot
of Caleb in his game, to be honest, from last year.
Just you know, there's there's the tools that jump out
at you, you know, the live arm, the ball jumps
out of his hand. I think he's got a lot
of twitch, not only in his release and the way
the ball comes out, but just in his feet and
not in the sense of I'm gonna go run for
fifty yards, but I've got a free rusher I'm real twitching,
(09:15):
explosive to be able to sidestep him and then deliver
the ball with accuracy. He's still loose, you know. You
can watch the cow game and watch him throw across
his body and cringe, you know, at a couple of
those moments. But if you've tracked him throughout his career,
I think he's improved in that area and cleaned it
up each and every year and had a big year
last year. Speaking of someone who didn't have a defense,
(09:35):
he didn't have one at Miami last year either, So
there's a lot to like about him. I'm I'm gonna
chase the ceiling versus the floor if I'm taking a
quarterback high in the draft. I just think when you
look around that conference, specifically the AFC, and is one
cyborg after another column. So you've got to go try
and get somebody that can go toe to toe with
those guys. I don't want to go with a floor
(09:57):
pick and then three years from now realize, Okay, he's
not good enough to navigate through you know, the burrow,
the Lamar Jackson's, the Josh Allen's, the Herberts, and on
and on we go.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
In the AFC, so you're on the Chargers broadcast, highly
respected his account, moved the sticks. He's on podcasts everywhere.
It didn't surprise me. I had the Chargers making the playoffs.
It did not surprise me. They had the decision. They
kept Bosa and Khalil Mack and they went Joe Alt.
So it's classic Harball. They moved off wide receivers. Now,
(10:29):
I argued. I argued, if you go to San Francisco,
his best receiver was Michael Crabtree. At Michigan, they rarely
threw the ball. It was a run game. So his
DNA is, listen, we're not gonna be We're not Mike
March's rams here. We're not the greatest show on turf.
That's not what we do. It does feel like the
Chargers in this draft have to get more dynamic on
(10:50):
the perimeter, does it not. Can you give us a
little insight with Harbaugh's second class.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Yeah, I think that you can look at Detroit as
the road map. You know, Detroit went and got all
the big rocks in the jar. They went and got
the offensive lineman, the defensive lineman, They had the quarterback
in place, and then they were able to go out
and get the explosiveness. And you saw once you have
that foundation built and you drop in and Jamior Gibbs,
Jamis and Williams to go along with Amanas Saint Brown
and you know Laporte is an athletic, explosive player, then
(11:20):
that thing goes to the next level. So I think
that's the next thing to do for this team and
for this offense. But Colin, I've you know, I think
a lot of teams have decisions to make here. And
I always advise, you know, hey, don't go to the
toy store until you've gone to the hardware store store first.
So I think the Chargers did some hardware store shopping
last year, and this year they get to go across
(11:41):
the street and go find some toys at the toy store.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
So I want to talk about the Stafford thing, because
in Los Angeles, you know, there's there's just we're all
kind of interconnected to a lot of the football teams
and sourcing. I'm told the Rams love Stafford and Stafford
likes the Rams, and I can't see him going to
the Giants and plan out doors with a shaky O
line like it's a really good fit. And because the
(12:05):
Rams have hit on so many of their defensive draft picks.
They're paying nobody on that side of the ball. They're
not paying Pooka, They're not paying Kyron Williams. Haven Stein's
got a realistic deal. He's excellent right tackle. They may
draft the left tackle with their first pick. They could
pay Stafford, But in your dealings in the NFL, what
you don't want is a Cam Newton of Bannon Kirk Cousins.
(12:29):
All of a sudden, you're the Thanksgiving and your quarterback
looks really old, really fast. What do you think is
a reasonable compromise for the Rams and Stafford? What? What
would you believe in all your years? Because I could
see two years, one hundred million walk away and draft
Riley Leonard in the third round. Your guess on what
they'll do and what they're looking for, because reportedly they're
(12:50):
gonna they're gonna sit down at the combine tomorrow and
the next day and try to make a deal.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Yeah, I mean you mentioned the reason to me with
how close they were in an NFC that's not nearly
as as stacked as the AFC is. Right now, they're
they're right there, They're right on the doorstep there literally
feet away from from beeing in another Super Bowl last year,
it would be hard to turn the page now. The
only thing I would say is the Rams have been
(13:18):
progressive and a lot of things they've done. They're very
well run, They're very smart and how they approach things.
And how many times have you heard from well run
franchises in different sports column that we're gonna we're gonna
move on a year too early versus a year too late.
So if this, you know, is something that that Stafford's
camp wants a longer term commitment, I could see them,
you know, literally putting a whiteboard up and saying, Matthew
(13:39):
Stafford at this price point for the next several years
versus all that we can do with the savings and
money over here on the other column. And I guess
you'd have to have some comfort level with who you
could have to replace them, you know, Is that Sam Darnold?
Is that somebody else that's out there? But I think
that they'll, you know, they'll explore those two opportunities. The
sweet spot to me is right where you are. It's
a it's a short deal. It's two years more than one,
(14:02):
not more than two.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
To me, that's the that's that sweet spot is they're right,
They're right there, They're right on the doorstep and get
into a super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
All right. NFL Network NFL Plus provide live coverage. It's
the Combine, it's the twenty third. In all your years
of covering it, you have Abdul Carter, I think, is
your number one player generally. Has there ever been a
shock at the Combine? Has there ever been a player
that you went, oh, my lord, he is way beyond
I can remember the tight end from Maryland. Is it
(14:30):
Vernon Davis? Yeah, he took his shirt off. I'm like, well,
what's going on? That was a moment to me that
jumped out. Give me a Combine moment that you can
reflect on. That was a shocker, uh to me?
Speaker 4 (14:43):
A Calvin Johnson barring a pair of shoes and I
think he ran in a low four threes at six five,
two hundred and thirty five pounds or something like that.
That one jumps out to me. The other one, which
took place underneath the stadium is I had watched I'd
done all the quarterbacks this year and had watched him,
and this guy was obviously incredibly talented. And I remember
(15:04):
walking in the hall and I under the stadium. They
were getting ready to weigh in, so he had just
his his compression shorts on and that was it. And
I walked by, and I was walking with a buddy,
and I said, Uh, what defensive end is that he goes?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
That's Cam Newton.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
I went, oh, my gosh, yeah, that was that was
eye opening. To see somebody that is as big as
massive as he was to move around like he did
was pretty nuts.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Daniel Jeremiah, NFL network analyst. He's sensational. Good seeing you
as all its Daniel get a sea bud. Yeah. I
remember years ago when I worked for the other place
I did. I think I may have done the Cam
draft and I remember, and it's all fuzzy, but Cam
was bigger than the first defensive end taken. And I
(15:49):
remember it because and I remember the defensive end was there.
I believe in the building and did not perform particularly
well in the NFL. And I just remember thinking when
I came off that draft coverage on the other place
on the radio network was size really does matter, Like
your initial view of something is just it does matter.
(16:09):
Abdull Carter for Penn State. When you see him you know,
when you see him in games and how he's cut,
he looks like a nine year NFL VET Miles Garrett
out of college. You were just like, Okay, that doesn't
look like a college athlete. I remember seeing Jamar Chase
at LSU and thinking he's just he's an NFL player
playing on Saturday. Like nobody in the SEC could stay
(16:31):
in front of him his catching radius.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Well, you got a great memory, Colin. I just looked
it up.
Speaker 6 (16:36):
Cam Newton first edge rusher was von Miller went to
he's smaller.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
No, that wasn't the one, though it was. It wasn't
that it was so it wasn't the Jolle.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Alden Smith was also in the top ten.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
No, who was Maybe it was the year before. Maybe
it wasn't the Cam Newton draft. I was doing ESPN
radio at the time, and maybe it wasn't the Cam
Newton Draft. It was either a year before after that,
and it was the first defensive end taken. And I
swear he was from Clemson, he was Southern, and I
was just so underwhelmed with his size and I and
(17:11):
I just remember thinking, he just doesn't look like an
NFL player, And he didn't do a darn thing in
the NFL. So it wasn't the Cam Newton draft because
Von Miller came out. Von Miller was great, he did,
but he was Texas A and m he was a
dominant college player in he all right. Chris Finch of
the t Wolves while to win. He's gonna get fined
(17:31):
by the NBA. So he's controversial. That's who we bring on.
That's last hour Live in La.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
The Herd one more Heard. The Herd streams twenty four
hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app.
Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Alright, all sorts of good stuff going on. Daniel Jeremiah
his twenty third combine, which it is interesting to watch
how the NFL has drown through the years. They moved,
they extended their draft, it's now four days, it's it's
they brought it back. They wanted more TV, they had
the combines now a thing. They move their free agency.
So again, these leagues, like college football, is making all
(18:08):
these moves and people are complaining about the moves. In
my take is do you want to grow or not? Like,
what do you want to do as a sports league?
Do you want to get better? Baseball took forever. Finally
they put in the pitch clock. Oh, what do you know?
Ratings went up twelve percent, Like, oh, let's get rid
of the defensive shifts. So when people complain about college
football making moves and the NIL and the transfer portal,
you can sit and gripe about things that are happening,
(18:29):
or you can move on, like stop romanticizing and collecting
baseball cards, like grow up. Things change, Like the NBA
right now needs some tweaks. I think they have to
figure out a way to make the game not quite
as monotonous. I also think that I've been saying this
for years. I think the NBA's got It's not a
regular season issue, because even during Michael Jordan, it wasn't
(18:49):
like we all sat around and watched regular season NBA.
I think the NBA's got a playoff problem. Is that
March madness, even the WNBA or women's college bassketball in
March Madness, they feel so urgent and we're becoming more
of an event society where UFC Saturday Night, College Football,
Pro Football, World Cup, Olympics, they're all doing great. NBA
(19:10):
playoffs that's the bigger issue. That's their best numbers, but
their numbers should be double what they are because it's
ridiculous to have a seven game first round playoff series
between a one and an eight seed. To me, it's
not a regular season NBA issue. David Stern, the late commissioner,
used to tell people privately, the big secret about the
NBA is nobody watches our regular season. I got news
(19:32):
for you. People weren't watching Michael Jordan play the expansion
Toronto Raptors. Nobody was watching that. But the ratings for
the playoffs were magnificent. The NBA's playoff ratings, to me,
are disappointing. There's no urgency in the society today. We
have become much more of an event society. We are
incredibly distracted. It's TikTok, it's social media, it's Instagram, there's
(19:56):
a million channels and platforms. You have to create urgency.
Three game first round NBA playoff series. From that point forward,
five game series, Max, Well, what about the history, Get
over it. The world's changing. Jmack with the news, Turn
(20:16):
on the.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
News, this is the Herdline News.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Go to the NFL with Josh Allen Colin. I mean
the MVP of the league. Just a spectacular season was
had by the Buffalo Bills quarterback. And yesterday at the Combine,
Sean McDermott spoke on his quarterback's MVP journey.
Speaker 7 (20:34):
It validates everything that he's been doing for years. It
validates his leadership this year, the way he's played on
the field this season, the way he's matured.
Speaker 8 (20:42):
Off the field.
Speaker 7 (20:43):
On the field, his decision making and how that's improved.
So all these areas that were perceived, call it gaps.
Josh has answered those gaps and he's closed those gaps.
And when you do that at the level that he
did it at on a consistent basis, the result was
was the MVP. And so to me, as I said
(21:04):
during the year later in the year in particular, he
deserved that.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Very rarely did great quarterbacks get trapped. You know, they
create so much freedom. I think it's fascinating how many
years in a row is defensive coach Sean McDermott been
unable to stop the Kansas City Chiefs in their last
game of the year, and it's amazing. Kansas City could
(21:29):
not move the ball against Houston and could not move
the ball against Philadelphia, could not move the ball up
and down the field against Sean mcdermot's defense.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
Okay, some referee aid calls, shall we say that in that?
Speaker 3 (21:43):
In that game?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
I mean, I feel like, how many more years are
we going to run this back?
Speaker 8 (21:48):
It's tough.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
I feel bad, a little bad for Josh Allen and
Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 6 (21:52):
They got to get over the hump. But we saw
the Chiefs in the Super Bowl look pretty weak.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I think Buffalo would put up a better fight.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Would you agree the Raider gave the Chiefs more problems
defensively than the Bills did. Am I wrong?
Speaker 5 (22:09):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
I don't remember many Raiders games. They're too irrelevant, but
you could be right.
Speaker 6 (22:14):
Moving on, let's get to the NBA. Obviously, tonight's big
story in sports is Luka Doncic and the Lakers hosting
the MAVs first time since the Blockbuster traded for a
few weeks ago, and Kyrie Irving discussed his expectations for
Luca and the Lakers tonight.
Speaker 8 (22:30):
You know, outside of just the obvious of us being
you know, being in LA and being a former team
you know, Lucas Obviously, the narratives already written. I don't
know else I could really add to that. I'm pretty
much focused and telling my guys just to focus on
the high level game that we got to win. You know,
I would love to get into the motions after the
game warshoot, but before the game, it's just about having
(22:50):
fun and making sure that we lock in and have
a deep focus. They're gonna come in, you know, and
be ready to play against us. Lucas obviously gonna have
a lot of confidence that game. He played well last game,
so it was feeling good and I just got to
be aware of it.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I bet you Lebron has eighteen assists all the Luca
So a subplot. I know.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Obviously we're focusing on the Lakers, but the Dallas Mavericks
really need this game calling.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
They are falling.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
They're currently eighth in the West and they're only a
game and a half in the play in right now,
that's it like there's a chance that they miss the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
San Antonio losing Wemby that is an opportunity for Dallas
to sneak in.
Speaker 6 (23:26):
Well that who's gonna win it the Sons or Mavericks.
Who gets in the playoffs, Kevin Durant, Booker or Kyrie Irvan.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
I don't know if this sounds can get.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
If if Dallas was healthy. I think Dallas is actually
really not healthy. I know that's they're really good. Anthony
Davis gat over under on Lucas points tonight on on
the gambling.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
I haven't seen one yet. I will continue to live.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
It's got to be thirty five.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
He hasn't gone off really.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Well well Denver, Denvery did.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
He did and then he got to sit a little
bit because they were blowing him out. This could be
a blow out tonight. You gotta bet though.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Somebody just sent me, Hey Jay.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
What what about first half? Bet on the Lakers to
them they could be too amped. You know, you get
too excited, Luca, we gotta get you going.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
All I know is JJ, Reddick and Lebron are gonna
make a point. Everybody on that roster is gonna make
a point to get loog with the ball.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
Yeah, that would That would be smart all the time,
not just tonight. The final story, Colin is your Golden
State Warriors. I gotta call them yours because you like them. Now,
Jimmy Butler has been added to the team. They're now
five and one. Last week Draymond Green said ahead of
the All Star Game that Golden State will win the
championship this season, and he has since doubled down on
(24:31):
his podcast.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
I believe that we got the pieces to do it,
and like I said, I know what that look and
feel like you know what I say. So it's a
lot of people like, oh man, how he gonna say
that that ain't done?
Speaker 1 (24:42):
What Jay say? How are you gonna talk about how
to do it?
Speaker 6 (24:45):
They never did it?
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Like you got all these people out here talking about
what I said, how I'm gonna do it?
Speaker 2 (24:51):
But she did it before.
Speaker 9 (24:53):
I think that over and over over and over and over,
and I know where to look and feel like I
have one thousand percent wholeheart all ten toes down on everything.
I said.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Uh over under on Luca, the staff told me he's
thirty one and a half. I'm taking the over. He
may drop that in the third quarter.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
So hey, real quick on dre mind. I just looked
this up.
Speaker 6 (25:15):
So the Warriors are currently in the plan Colin. If
they get to the playoffs, they will either likely face
Denver as the seventh seeds.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Well Denver, Denver would beat them. It's a bad matchup,
but Denver can't defend, so it would be a good
series to watch, Okay.
Speaker 6 (25:27):
And then the other option if they get the eight
seed is okay, s are they beating?
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Okay? See Jimmy Butler and Steph Curtins. So like this, I'm.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Gonna tell you that would be the series. That would
be the best first round series in the NBA. Oh,
I'll be old, veteran, cranky Warriors and the new kids
on the block. That would be a great series'd be
great now. And here's here's what you worry about if
you're SGA. So Carl Malone, who lived at the free
throw line, didn't quite get the whistle in the playoffs.
(25:59):
James Harden, who lived at the free throw line, never
quite got the playoff whistle. SGA lives at the free
throw line. NBA officials do not give you the regular
season whistle, especially once you get to the second round
on so Oklahoma City. Just the way it works, Harden
and Karl Malone were guys that feasted on sitting at
(26:22):
the stripe. And you don't get that whistle. I mean,
you get to second round, conference finals, finals, they let
you play referees, let you play so Oklahoma City, is
not gonna get that friendly whistle like they do.
Speaker 6 (26:35):
Now you think Kurry and Draymond are intimidated at all
by Okay see Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Do you think they're afraid or you know.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
What's great about we gotta go to okay see for two?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Oh no, Jesus, guys, we gotta focus.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
You know it's it's we talked about this yesterday. Jimmy
Butler gets a lot of pushback because he he's very
old school. He's got a little bit of Kobe's and
Michael Jordan's sort of mantra, which is practice hard play
had I mean, if if Jimmy's missing a game, it's
because the heat is suspending him or he's hurt. Like,
he likes to play, and he likes to practice hard,
(27:08):
and he's very intentional the way he plays basketball, like
every possession matters. Very old school. Well, Draymond's old school,
and Steph Curry is a workaholic. So he really was
as everybody was worried about. Because I read a couple
of stories they said, you know, analytically is not a
good fit, but emotionally and intellectually, Jimmy Butler is a
(27:29):
great fit to the Warriors, and you gotta be careful
about analytics like sometimes like if you go back. I've
always said this about the Miami Heatles. They didn't fit.
First of all, they had no size, They had no
true point guard, and d Wade and Lebron are kind
of like different versions of themselves.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
What happened.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
They brought in Battier, Ray Allen, d Wade, Donnas, Haslam,
Chris Bosh. It was the smartest team in the league,
and they just figured out how to play. They just
outsmarted people on a nightly basis matchup spacing because they
really had no size. They were a bad rebounding team
in all four finals. So I think Golden State Butler again,
(28:09):
Draymond Curry, that's a team that curR the coach. They'll
figure out ways to manipulate a playoff game and steal
a game or two in a series they shouldn't win.
Okse has no experience in that space. I came back,
Are you done?
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Yeah, I've done done?
Speaker 1 (28:27):
All right? J Mack with the news.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
No, we're in this uh, we're in this news studio.
How long We're gonna be in this studio for like
three months, and it looks like the old thing, but
it's much smaller. I actually I really like it. But
they have a candy cabinet back here, and I'm not
I'm not only candy per se. At least I didn't
think I like candy. I'm I've gone through twenty seven
(28:56):
sour Patch kids in the last two days. I am flying.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Did you see they just stocked the Swedish fish?
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Oh no, the gummy bears. They're coming out of the
drawers back here dead. I didn't even think I like candy.
I'm living on it today. Forget the omelet. I had
a green, orange, yellow gummy bear omelet. That's what I
had for breakfast today. Got If they get corn nuts
in that place, I'll never do the show again. I
mean I'll be picking stuff out of my teeth. Chris
Finch t Wolves Coach Last Hour Live in La the Hurt.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and Noone Eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 10 (29:32):
Hey Steve Covino and I'm Rich David, and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 11 (29:37):
You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm
Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
of course the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
Speaker 11 (29:46):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world.
Speaker 10 (29:50):
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture,
stories that well other shows don't seem to have the
time to discuss.
Speaker 11 (29:59):
And the fact we've been friends for the last twenty
years and still work together. I mean that says something, right,
So check us out.
Speaker 10 (30:05):
We like to get you involved, to take your phone calls,
chop it up.
Speaker 11 (30:09):
As they say, I'd say, the most interactive show on
Fox Sports Radio, maybe the.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Most interactive show on planetar.
Speaker 10 (30:14):
Be sure to check out Cavino and Rich live on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to
seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific, And if you
miss any of the live show, just search Covin on
Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on
social media that's Covino and Rich.
Speaker 6 (30:30):
The Fastest Racing on Earth is coming to Fox a
twenty twenty five Indie car season gets underway in Saint Petersburg,
the first stop on the road to the Indy five
hundred Sunday at noon Eastern, Live on Fox.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
You know, I was thinking about this. People always talk
about the bias, uh in you know, political media and
and and you know main media, legacy media. There's so
much bias. You know, there's no question to me, in
my lifetime the media has leaned left more than it
has moderate to you, and they're paying the price now.
A lot of consumers have spotted it and don't like it.
(31:04):
But I always felt there was in sports media there
was an East Coast bias. It's not a big city bias,
it's an East coast bias. In a prime example, and
I've been reading stories over the last couple of weeks.
When I worked at the other place, the offseason was
dominated by the Red Sox and the Yankees because George
Steinbrenner refused to lose. He'd fired Billy Martin eight times.
(31:27):
He didn't care, he would pay. His kids don't have
his net worth, apparently, nor do they have his passion
for baseball. Because the Yankees don't have the money of
the Mets, forget the Dodgers. They don't have the money
of the Mets and Steve Cohen. So now everybody is
complaining that the Dodgers are going out and buying all
the best players. Those players are available to every billionaire
number one. And secondly, they're deferring payments, which everybody else
(31:50):
could do. So when the Yankees had the advantage with
the Yes Network and would dominate, I mean, Cecza Bathe,
you didn't even want to be a Yankee. He had
said I want to be a Yankee. And then they
finally just said, okay, we're gonna pay way more than
the rest of the market. That was totally celebrated by
the media. Oh, it was unbelievable. Red Sox and Yankees there, duh,
(32:11):
Cincinnati reds Pirates, Royals couldn't compete. Nobody thought a thing
of that in the East Coast. Now the Dodgers dominate
because they're deferring payments, and let's be honest, it's a
great organization. I looked at a stat yesterday only eighteen
money in baseball only accounted for eighteen percent of the wins.
That there was some analytic that, you know, the Dodgers
(32:34):
obviously can go buy better players. But oh Tani didn't
even pitch last year. He was just a batter. This
year he's going back to pitching and hitting. But it
is interesting when you talk about bias in the media.
I swear to God, when I worked at the other place,
all I heard my bosses would come bouncing down the
hall every time there was a trade or an acquisition
that benefited the Yankees or the Red Sox. And now
(32:56):
everybody's in a tizzy because the Dodgers have richer owners.
But the other thing about the Dodgers is they just
care more, just like George Steinmenner Steinbrenner cared more than
his kids do. That's a big part of it. And
the Dodgers, anybody, all these billionaires could defer payments. They've
just figured out, with some risk, a way to do it.
(33:17):
It hasn't always panned out. A couple of their acquisitions
have not done as planned. They didn't turn out to
be the human being they thought or the player they thought.
But I don't buy all this all. What the Dodgers
are doing, it's ruining baseball. The bottom line is baseball
once you got out of the seventies and early eighties.
(33:39):
The big markets have always had an advantage. I mean,
the Atlanta Braves are well capitalized, they always have good players.
Houston Astros, that's a big city with a lot of money.
They sell out their stadium, they have unbelievable support. They
can go pay for players that maybe in Arizona or
a Seattle or an Oakland couldn't. That's baseball. If you
want to have a rigid salary cap, owners could do it.
(34:00):
They don't want to. But yeah, this this I just
I'm reading stories as we're going when we're in spring training. Now,
give me a break about lamenting what the Dodgers are doing.
Anybody could do it.
Speaker 5 (34:15):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
I was thinking about this this morning. I was listening
to Stephen Jones. So the Cowboys obviously have multiple problems.
Their roster's not very good. They've overpaid for Dak. All
you Dak fanboys in Dallas, how's it feel like? Now
he's gonna be a ninety million dollar cap hit next year,
Josh Allen is less than half that.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
You can manipulate that and work around it, But I
don't know how you can get it down. You're not
gonna get it down to thirty or forty million, So
you wanted him to get paid. Here's what it looks like.
But Stephen Jones, the Cowboys don't only have a production problem,
they have a messaging problem. Here's Stephen Jones.
Speaker 12 (34:52):
We're gonna look at everything we can. We're gonna be
selectively aggressive. We obviously, you know there's things in this
league you have to Yeah, you know you have certain
amount of resources they allow you to have, and you
know we'll look at that. But we're gonna try to
improve our football team. Not try, We're gonna improve our
football team, and you know.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
We expect to have success next year. Their messaging is
a downer. We're gonna be selectively aggressive. How come Philadelphia
is just aggressive? Not selectively They paid their quarterback and
aj Brown and Alice Goddard and Devonte Smith they will
and Saquon Barkley and and they slay in the back
(35:34):
end and defensive linement. I mean, what is this? Selectively aggressive?
Philadelphia is just aggressive. I saw a story this morning
Eagles interested in Miles Garrett like, and the Cowboys are
are cutting coupons and groupons, like what are we doing here?
So it's Dallas right now and the Lakers were in
(35:57):
this space until Luca arrived and they stole them from them.
As the Cowboys are a downer. I mean, there is
more hope next year with the Chicago Bears than with
the Dallas Cowboys, you know, and a lot of this
is I mean they you know what they've become, the Cowboys,
that become the classic house poor where you go over
(36:17):
your skis a little bit on your mortgage and you
have eleven bedrooms in thirteen bathrooms, but you can't afford
you know, you got Brian Schottenneimer on the grill for
dinner tonight. You don't have much because you can't afford
anything else. And that's the DAK contract. But I mean
they just don't have a diversified portfolio. It's ceedee lamb
overpaid Dak, cross your fingers on Micah. And they're coming
off back to back drafts that just didn't relinquish much.
(36:40):
So but I find the Cowboys messaging is how long
are they going to be up against it? Like? How
many years? I mean the Denver Broncos get really behind
the eight ball with Russell Wilson's contract and for a
year at ugly, the following year they're in the playoffs,
they get bo Nick, they hit on like four draft picks,
(37:02):
they're fine. Like they're getting out of the woods. Like
a year and a half later, they're getting out of
the woods. Now Cleveland's a mess. But if Cleveland gets
Shado or Sanders or cam Ward, they'll be fine. Like
how many years do you have to hear about the Cowboys? Well,
we'll be selectively aggressive. What does that mean? I mean
(37:22):
at one point the Rams were paying Jared Goff's salary
in Detroit and Matt staffords and they were still aggressive.
You start examining the Dallas Cowboys and the messaging is bad,
and it's a downer and it's a bummer and they
don't have any money. Again again, I'm looking at who
the Ravens are paying. They can afford Derrick Henry. I
(37:44):
look at Buffalo, they're paying a lot of people they
gna pay. They paid Amari Cooper, Philadelphia's paying everybody. San
Francisco is paying a lot of people. I don't know.
It's when I read the Eagles or pursuing Miles Garrett
and you're gonna be selectively aggressive, and Zach Martin just retired,
it seems problematic. You know my favorite moment today on
(38:05):
the show J Mack and this got j Mack. J
Mack's been on this now for weeks, which is Channing
Fry coming out and I think taking a shot. I do.
I do believe it does feel a little bit like
a shot at Barkley and Charles obviously is is? I mean,
(38:25):
it's a it's an entertainment vehicle. They do tend to
bash more than a certainly more than other NBA.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
They're a league partner. That needs to be said, as
a league partner they're bashing.
Speaker 6 (38:36):
Right, we're not league partners. You're at Fox with the
NBA dnt is continue.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Well, okay, that's a good that's a good point. League partner.
Should commissioners be telling journalists and opinionists what to say? No,
I don't think so either.
Speaker 6 (38:52):
But when you turn on any any show that does
an NFL pregame show, are they blasting the players and
ripping them?
Speaker 3 (38:58):
Oh they're not that good?
Speaker 1 (38:59):
But as you know, what are the consumers saying? The
consumers are telling you this is the one show we like.
Speaker 6 (39:05):
Of course, because hate travels much faster than positivity. Look online,
it's all hate. It's a hater's ball, a hater's cauldron online.
So Barkley and Shack is what they do. They just
take dumps on every player.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Are we haters?
Speaker 3 (39:17):
We're not haters. I mean, I don't like certain teams,
but I'm not a hater.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
So this is the channing Fry sound that j Mack
and I think he could be right, is just taking
a shot at Charles Barkley.
Speaker 5 (39:29):
Nostalgia is killing the NBA. That nineties basketball Michael Jordan
and Kobe was not as clean as y'all think it was.
Every great player, whether that's at wemby Ron, you know,
Steph this this that you know, they.
Speaker 9 (39:48):
Compare them to a month forty years ago. The rules
weren't even the same. Nobody celebrates these new people. So
why the would anybody want to be the face of
this league. You're gonna get on every network for not
being somebody from forty years ago.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
Brown is one of the greatest players ever to play.
Stephen Curry is one of the greatest players ever to play.
Speaker 9 (40:12):
Jannis is one of the great Jokic And you know
what we do, we talk about Michael Jordan.
Speaker 3 (40:18):
All this superstar era is over.
Speaker 6 (40:23):
Hey, by the way, you know Gilbert Arenas, right, Yeah,
former star talented. He also has taken shots recently. I
was on vacation when somebody sent it to me about
the inside the NBA crew and the just a constant negativity.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
So that's now Channing Frye, Gilbert Arenas, Jason McIntyre, Colin Cowher. No,
it's starting to don't starting to see.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
Don't lump me into that. I think it's the best
show by far, and I think it's the one NBA
show where I get a real honest opinion. I like it.
I think even for.
Speaker 6 (40:52):
Guys protecting their era, oh nineties, we were the best ever.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
No, I've said before. I think it's I mean that
Nicks Pacers series, Reggie Miller's Spike Lee stuff. You can
do documentaries all day long. There were fifty sixty free
throws in those games. The games weren't nearly as good.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
As fifty seven ninety four, like that nineties.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
There were scores in the seven Yeah, I mean, come on,
it was brick, it was masonry. It was bricks everywhere
in free throw shooting. So you know, I don't romanticize
the seventies NBA. I loved Jordan and I love Magic
and Bird. I thought the Warriors Kevin Durant was as
much fun as I've had watched in the NBA lebron
winning at Golden State Lebron winning a time. I was
(41:31):
like emotional watching that. I had more fun watching the
Heatles than I I'm not one of those guys.
Speaker 11 (41:37):
You know.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
JJ Reddick is in my camp on this.
Speaker 6 (41:39):
When he was doing his podcast, he there's some guy,
some New York radio hosts mad Dog, and Reddick kind
of went at him. Was like, listen, Bob Coozy couldn't
dribble with his left hand. Go find a video of
Coozy dribbling was the left hand.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
And of course this mad Dog guy, his head explodes
and Reddick.
Speaker 6 (41:54):
Whatever, Well, I think he look at the video dribbling
with his head down.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
With He's very much an old He likes talking, you know,
sixty seven that his style. That's very New York. They
love the old days Zach.
Speaker 6 (42:06):
They don't think that anything of Zach Lavine, who would
have averaged like ninety seven points a game in the sixties.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
But I'll push back on this.
Speaker 6 (42:13):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Also, Barkley has hammered the Lakers for years by the
way he should by the way, not very well run
in Kobe's last five years, not very well.
Speaker 3 (42:27):
That's fine, you can bash to Kobe. Here, Lebron gets her,
they win a championship. Now you know who.
Speaker 6 (42:30):
Barkley's old best friend used to be a guy named
Michael Jordan. So he's protecting Michael Jordan by taking shots
at Lebron. Talk to well, they're not friends anymore, but
Barkley still obviously everybody wants to be friends with Jordan,
and he's Michael Jordan. So Barkley's always bashing Lebron. Remember recently,
Lebron had a ridiculous dunk and Barkley goes, why are
we showing this for like the seventh time?
Speaker 3 (42:49):
What you don't hear that? You got me a Josh
Allen touchdown pass? I'll watch it seventy five times, Like.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
I don't know. I think I think ratings are a
bit of a true serum, and I think the ratings
for that show are very strong, and because people feel
they're getting a straight, unbiased, brutally on it. They're saying
stuff that everybody says in their living room watching the game.
That's what they're doing, and people respond to it.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.
iHeartOlympics: The Latest
Listen to the latest news from the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina are here and have everyone talking. iHeartPodcasts is buzzing with content in honor of the XXV Winter Olympics We’re bringing you episodes from a variety of iHeartPodcast shows to help you keep up with the action. Follow Milan Cortina Winter Olympics so you don’t miss any coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics, and if you like what you hear, be sure to follow each Podcast in the feed for more great content from iHeartPodcasts.