Best of The Herd

Jason McIntyre fills in for Colin to defend Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts as an elite quarterback with Philadelphia in prime position to win back-to-back Super Bowls. He reacts to BREAKING NEWS: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announce their engagement. Jason also talks to Cowboys insider Jon Machota to find out how close Jerry Jones and Micah Parsons are on a contract extension.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noone Pacific. Find your local station for The Herd at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio
or FSR.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowherd
on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Hello and welcome to the Herd.

Speaker 4 (00:30):
Yes, I'm back, it's me Jason McIntyre, join by Rachel Nichols.
We survived day one without Colin Cowherd. He is fairly
jet setting Rareland. What are you? The key is right
now Europe.

Speaker 5 (00:43):
He's got so many homes Iceland, who hotel?

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Who knows where?

Speaker 4 (00:47):
The guy's got a good fight. But Rachel and I
hopefully will continue to regale you with fun tales.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
He gets a great guest today, my.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Man Bruce Feldman coming up top a second hour. He's
gonna talk Ohio State against Texas in which should be
a phenomenal game on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
And then we got Brian Billick, former Ravens head coach.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
I'm sure he's gonna love the Lamar Jackson questions Kenny
would a playoff game, the matter, the usual stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Listen, we have a great show today and I'm.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Gonna start by talking about a list.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
And as a guy who.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
Ran a website for close to a decade, I know
a good list.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Give me a mock draft, right, there's a good list for.

Speaker 4 (01:29):
You, Top sports movies of all time.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Everybody loves a list.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
It gets people going, it gets them fired up, it
gets the engagement going. Right. So, we had a couple
dueling lists this week about the NFL, and wouldn't you
know it, my main man, Jalen Hurtz was disrespected on
both of them. Okay, the Super Bowl MVP, who was
phenomenal in throttling Kansas City, scored three touchdowns in that game.

(01:56):
I know the defense had one and Mahomes was on
his back most of the night.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Travis else, he was on.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
A milk carton. But Jalen Hurts, let's remember, was outstanding
in that game. And on these lists that emerged this week,
one of them over at ESPN their Top one hundred.
They claim it is based on expectations for the twenty
twenty five season, whatever that is. Maybe they broke out
the crystal Ball predicting potential greatness. So Patrick Mahomes is

(02:21):
at the top of that list. He's coming off the
worst season of his career, but sure, Patrick Mahomes won.
I don't think anybody has beef. But Jalen Hurts checked
in at thirty eight. What that's, folks, six spots lower
than he was last year.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
So he has a great year. And as the article notes.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
He had fifteen touchdown passes and ten rushing touchdowns or
more right, for the fourth straight season. Nobody's ever done
that in NFL history. Josh Allen is working on two. Okay,
that's how good Jalen Hurts has been, folks. The fact
that he's thirty eight on this list it annoyed me
a little bit. And then you go into Eagles message boards.

(03:01):
I spent like eight minutes that I cannot have back
on Eagles message boards. They're really angry about this. But
the disrespect of Hurts, I think I have an answer
as to why. But I'm looking at this list and
I see some guys that are on there. Okay, you
know Derek Singley, and we're gonna bring him up twice.
It's not a knock He's a really good cornerback, better
than Jalen Hurts at quarterback. I mean, folks, Hurts has

(03:24):
been in now two Super Bowls already. He's I think
the best duel threat quarterback the league has ever seen.
And if you want to go Lamar Jackson, I'm not
gonna fight you, Okay, I get it. Lamar's got an MVP.
But Jalen Hurts has the single most unstoppable move in
professional football, and that's short yardage. You know, you can
have the Lamar Jackson highlights, but give me the Jalen

(03:47):
Hurts automatic one yard carry for the first down every
time he needs it, I mean, goal line situations. Just
go ask Josh Allen if he could use that right.
It failed miserably against Kansas City. So that's one list
where Hertz was disrespected. Then comes the NFL NFL dot
Com list, where they haven't actually announced number one that's

(04:08):
coming on September first, But wouldn't you know it, Jalen
Hurts checks in at nineteen on that list best players
in the NFL, behind Derek Stingley. Derek Stingley better have
a good season in Houston. Now he's ahead of Jayden
Daniels in that list, but.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
He's only eighteenth. So just a reminder.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
Super Bowl MVP has done historic stuff on the ground
and through the air the last four years, and he's
not even a top ten player. I look at movies.
I love going to the movies, love watching movies, love
rewatching movies. You win an Oscar, it doesn't get any
better than that. Movies TV, you win an Emmy. You're
at the top of your game in the NFL, where

(04:50):
the Super Bowl is the most watched television event every
single year. You could be the MVP of the game,
the best player in the game, and he doesn't even
crack top ten in the NFL in the next season.
I tried to figure out why that is, and I'm
drilling down. I'm drilling down, and somebody said something smart
in our meeting. Every morning, somebody says something smart, but

(05:13):
he's boring, and I keep coming back to it. It's like, Okay,
Jalen Hurts carries a briefcase to games. He does not
offer any bulletin board material for folks. You know, Josh
Allen had I think the single two greatest plays in
the NFL last year, that touchdown run against the Chiefs
to seal the victory in the regular season, and then
he had the hook and ladder in the snow with

(05:36):
phenomenal touchdown. Jalen Hurts doesn't have those. He'll have like
a twenty yard scramble that's fun, and he'll have a
million brotherly shoves, but that's not sexy. Lamar Jackson dancing
running for his life, that's fascinating. Patrick Mahomes unbelievable throws
down the field. Hurts doesn't have that. He's not swagged out,
you know, he shows up with a business suit on

(05:58):
and the briefcase. Meanwhile, we've got Joe Burrow walking the
runway in Paris wearing wacky outfits that, oh man, that's
going to go viral. Look what Joe Burrow's wearing. And
Hurts is just boring and dole and that doesn't register
on these lists. It's so weird how disrespected not only
Hurts is but the Eagles. Do you guys remember last

(06:18):
year's off season two can the Chiefs three P? That
was the big storyline all off all of the Chiefs.
They're a juggernaut. They got a three P. Have you
heard anything about the Eagles running it back? I look, guys,
they're returning ten of eleven starters on offense. Okay. On
that top one hundred list for ESPN, they had the

(06:39):
most players on the list with ten Sae Kwon Barkley.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yeah, back healthy.

Speaker 4 (06:44):
Why aren't we talking about Eagles building a potential dynasty? Gold?
If you want a fun exercise, Pro Football Focus lists the.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
Age of all the players and their grades.

Speaker 4 (06:53):
The Eagles have to have the most amount of best
young players in the league.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Are stacked because they draft really well.

Speaker 4 (07:03):
They've got a potential dynasty, and nobody's talking about the Eagles.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Running it back.

Speaker 4 (07:06):
I hear a lot of this is finally the year
for the Lions, or boy the Rams. Cowhard loves the Rams. Hey,
Matt Stafford. They add Davante Adams. Everybody's all excited because
they added a wide receiver.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
Okay, nice move.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
I think we're sleeping on the Eagles, who are in
as good of shape to build something real, spicy and
philly as we've seen since the Kansas City Chiefs. Now,
let's move on to a quarterback we know a little
less about, and that's Arch Manning.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Obviously.

Speaker 4 (07:37):
The huge Texas Ohio State games Saturday here on Fox
gonna kick off the season with I don't know, probably
one of the most anticipated games we've seen in college
football in a while, because it's really the hard launch
of Arch Manning. And I said something on the show
yesterday that I didn't even realize at the time. It
was mildly controversial, but I got a text from a

(07:57):
buddy who graduated from Texas and he's on Tech changed it.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
Can you believe j Max asking this?

Speaker 4 (08:03):
And I asked our guests Jeff Schwartz, I said, you know,
is arch Manning good? Do we know if he's good?
Here's what Jeff Schwartz said about that.

Speaker 6 (08:13):
I don't think we know if he's good yet.

Speaker 7 (08:14):
And that's okay.

Speaker 6 (08:16):
Still one hundred passes of college football. There are certainly
people that evaluate quarterbacks who think he's very good, and
they are the traits there that he has shown at
certain times that are high level traits. He has made
big throws, he's made big runs. They put him into
games and situations where you think, to yourself, maybe I'm
surprised he's in this. You know, in that spout he's

(08:36):
shown those abilities. Now, of course, it's different when teams
have watched film on you all year, when teams have
seen you play four or five six games, when you're
on the road with new offensive linemen, the potential's all there.
I think it's earlier to say yes or no. People
already mocking him to beat the top of the dravelin.
Let's not the be all end all, but there's certainly
a lot of talent there. He has to live up
to now when he gets to play on Saturday.

Speaker 4 (08:59):
Yes. So essentially, what Jeff is saying is, we don't
know if Arch man. It's fun to mock him number one,
because you know Peyton and Eli and the family, the
football's first family, if you will, We just don't know.
And I during that interview with with Schwartz, I said, Jeff,
I'm looking at the box score from the SEC championship

(09:20):
game and then the playoff games against Clem Center in
Ohio State. Arch through zero passes none he carried five
times for thirteen yards. I know they love quinn Ewers,
and quinn Ewers was a really good college football quarterback.
He also was drafted in the seventh round. If you're
keeping track, if Arch is so good, you couldn't have

(09:42):
put in.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
A passing package for the guy.

Speaker 4 (09:45):
The defense knows, oh he is a running quarterback, so
maybe throwing a wrinkle and all these highlights you see
again it's against like UTSA Colorado State. I don't want
to say they're hiding arch, but I do have some
mild concerns.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
What are we waiting for here?

Speaker 4 (10:01):
Now? On some level, I respect that the Texas folks
and the Manning family has decided, you know what, We're
going to do things differently. Everybody wants to play now.
Everybody wants their Nile money now. True freshmen, they want
to play immediately if you're not playing me, I'm out right.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
I get this.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
Question every year around April May from a college kids
who are going to be graduating, and they send me
messages on Instagram. Hey j mac Man, you have the
best job ever.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
I'm not lying. I kind of do. How do I
get where you are?

Speaker 7 (10:35):
But faster?

Speaker 3 (10:37):
How do I get there? Like soon?

Speaker 4 (10:38):
Like on TV talking about sports and I'm like, yeah,
it took me twenty years to be an overnight success,
so good luck just instantly jumping into talking about sports
on TV and.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
They don't seem to get it.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
Everybody wants it now, and of course college freshmen they
want it now. The Manning family a little bit different.
They said, you know what, we're old school. We're not
going to rush into This is his third year on campus,
like he's been there for a while. Remember Trevor Lawrence
came to Clemson starting as a true freshman was awesome.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
I don't know if I am not taking a shot.

Speaker 4 (11:14):
At the ket I just don't know. Could he be great? Yeah,
he certainly could do. I hope he's interesting. Hell yeah,
college football could use it. Here's Arch Manning yesterday on
Texas being everyone's target.

Speaker 8 (11:25):
I think that's all of us at Texas, and I
think we kind of try to shift the narrative. We're
going for everyone else targets hunt on our bat who
we have the red dot on everyone else. And this
is what I've been waiting for. I spent two years
not playing, so I might as well go have some fun, right.
I always have to remind myself it's not all about me.
It's it's the whole team. And you know, we got
to play the situation as well, not give them short

(11:48):
fields and take care of the ball. So it's going
to be a phone.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
He's saying all the right things, and again I'm fascinated
by this. I cannot wait to watch. I just part
of me wonders, and part of me that wonders is
the gambling part.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
Again. I was in Vegas last week. I did lay it.

Speaker 4 (12:05):
I think Ohio State smashes him this weekend. Now the
line's going the wrong way against me, so that's not great.
But I think a lot of that is Texas hype
and people are excited for Arch. Like someone said yesterday,
he is the favorite to win the Heisman. They're the
number one team in the country and they're one of
the favorites to win the national championship. That is a
lot of pressure on a guy who's been on campus

(12:27):
for three years and it's barely played football. He's thrown
on I just looked this up. A total of ninety
five passes in two seasons. Oh man, A little nervous
for Arch banding. But it should be a great game
Saturday on Fox. And Oh by the way, if you
don't think this is a massive game, take a look
at what's outside the studios here at Fox in Los Angeles.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Ahead of Texas Ohio State.

Speaker 4 (12:52):
That is a billboard that's probably the size of like
five cars. I mean, it's massive, and it's hyping a
game that's happening in Ohio Saturday's. This is in Los Angeles.
So listen, folks.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
I know Rachel's excited about this game.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
I certainly am fired up because we've been hearing about
ars manning for a while. I'm a little nervous for
the kid. I think it's My guess is it goes sideways.
They lose thirty four to thirteen or something, and then
the pressure's off Art and he rebounds his next three
games or cupcakes. But you're early read on Arch. How
do you think he'll fare this weekend?

Speaker 5 (13:28):
Well, look, I think what you're saying about them playing
the long game as a family is the thing you
have to remember, even week to week, even this Saturday,
even the next week, even the next week. They see this,
look at the careers that Peyton had, look at the
career that Eli had.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
They see this.

Speaker 5 (13:43):
As a decade and a half longer project. Right, So
one game this weekend, one more year at Texas. There's
been talk of him staying not just this season, but
next season at Texas. I mean that the family has
said that. So they are looking at this as the
longest of long games. I think if this weekend doesn't
go the way that he would like it to go,

(14:04):
and I agree with you. I think you know, no
team has gone into Ohio state and one since twenty
twenty one. If your name is not the Michigan Wolverines,
that's it. Nobody else has done it. So I don't
see Texas pulling it off this weekend for all of
the reasons we've been talking about for the last week
or so. But again, to this family, this is not

(14:26):
this is just like a pittance, right. They are looking
at this as a multi decade plus project, and so
you're seeing this tiny, tiny steps of progression, and that's
on purpose.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
Yeah, you gotta walk before you can run.

Speaker 4 (14:40):
I think they say, all right, coming up next, we're
gonna stay in Ohio because there was a big trade.

Speaker 3 (14:46):
I find it wasn't big.

Speaker 4 (14:48):
But we kind of sort of predicted it here yesterday.
The Browns make a move. That's good news for Dure Sanders.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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FS one and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 9 (15:05):
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Speaker 10 (15:10):
You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern,
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We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
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Speaker 10 (15:32):
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Speaker 4 (15:45):
Most interactive show on planetar.

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Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on
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Speaker 4 (16:03):
I'm about to unveil my Super Bowl tiers. It's gonna
make a certain fan days very I'm worried.

Speaker 5 (16:08):
I'm not gonna lie. I'm where I've seen these tears.
I'm a little worried about you.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
So it's funny.

Speaker 4 (16:11):
Rachel is very caught off guard and she's wearing Chiefs red.
I believe today she was caught off guard yesterday by
the Chiefs.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
In the meeting and like laughing, and I was like, oh,
Rachel nice.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
And then today when I unveiled my tears, she was
really caught off guard.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
So listen, Bruce Tayler swift Red. By the way, Taylor
apologies yet.

Speaker 4 (16:31):
So Bruce Feldman, my guy, he's coming up in five
minutes talking about Yeah, college football, Notre Dame Miami. We
need to talk a little more about that. Anyways, let
me do my Super Bowl tiers. All right, folks, here
we go. So we have four tiers of the teams
that can win the Super Bowl. And let's get started,

(16:51):
shall we all right? Tier number one faux show for sure. Uh,
these teams are the elite, the best of the best.
Baltimore Ravens, no doubt about it, need no explanation. Josh
Allen's Buffalo Bills, the phi let Al Fia Eagles, the
defending Super Bowl champs. I don't need to explain those three.
Now the Niners, some people are gonna be surprised by.

(17:11):
I'm just gonna let's be obvious. Don't read too much
into what.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
Happened last season.

Speaker 4 (17:17):
They were a mass unit, and I know the wide
receiver room has some issues.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
Currently, they're gonna be fine.

Speaker 4 (17:22):
Okay. This is a schedule based prediction. That's why they're
Super Bowl contenders. I also like the move bringing back
Robert Sala Go. Look at the quarterbacks they face this year. Guys,
it is a cakewalk. They should be fine. I think
they'll probably get the number one or two seed in
the NFC. The forty nine ers should be in the
four shore Super Bowl contender list. All right, let's go

(17:43):
to the second tier, a little larger, little more robust.
The Green Bay Packers. Yes, I have the Packers in
the four reel category, joined by the Atlanta Falcons. I
don't mind revealing. When I was in Vegas last week,
I bet the Falcons to win the day Vision and yes,
win the NFC. A bit of a flyer. The offensive

(18:05):
line injuries has me concerned right now. But nevertheless, Denver
Broncos in the four reel category, that defense should be
the best in the league. And I think the Nis
Peyton combo is much better than I thought. La Rams
fourth in the four reel category.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
They probably could get bumped up to one now.

Speaker 4 (18:23):
That staffer's fine, but as Rachel noted, the left tackle
situation some cause for concern. And I'm gonna put the
Bengals here because Burrow's not gonna stop chucking and Ducin
he is just going to keep throwing to keep the
Bengals in every game. And I do believe offense should
keep them in the super Bowl contending category. Let's go
to the third tier of super Bowl contenders.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
Hey, there they are, Herry gou.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
For now, the Kansas City Chiefs are a Super Bowl contender. Yes,
I had them missing the playoffs. Yes, the tackles are
an issue. I don't care how good the Ohio State
kids looked in practice. Is a long season, folks. The
running back situation is I see Travis Kelce. I'm not
gonna use the washed word.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
Oops, I just did.

Speaker 4 (19:05):
I think he'll be okay, But let's see, it's a
full season and the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
And then of course the defense.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
I mean, Jalen Hurts just put a number on them
in the Super Bowl and you look at that tape
of that and you're like, oh, there's holes all over
the place. I have Detroit in four now. I also
have them missing the playoffs. I know that's gonna make
people upset Washington in the four now. As we talked
about yesterday, Rachel noted, the defense is very old, has
a lot of questions. I think the offense keeps them
in gains, and I'm gonna have the Chargers here. I

(19:32):
really like the Chargers. They're a bit more sleeper. Now
that Slater's out for the season, Let's go to the
final category super Bowl contenders for your consideration, the Arizona Cardinals.

Speaker 3 (19:44):
I have them in the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (19:46):
Houston Texas. I just don't love them. They got entire
new offensive line. Yes, the defense will keep them in gains. Yes,
the divisions, but that offensive line has me really nervous.
I have Jacksonville here. They're my surprise team in the
in the AFC. I think that offense isn't going to
rival the Bengals, but I think it's going to be very,

(20:06):
very good.

Speaker 3 (20:08):
And oh my gosh, this can't be real.

Speaker 4 (20:11):
And then finally, for your consideration, the Minnesota Vikings. Yes,
I'm buying JJ McCarthy and those are my Super Bowl
contender tiers. So listen, there's some news breaking. I don't
know is this Are we sure about this? Come on, guys,
I don't want to go with that if it's not accurate.
So let's bring on Bruce Feldman, my guy college football analyst,

(20:34):
covers the sport for Fox. Bruce in his just awesome
family room there, looking sharp as ever, new haircut, ready
for the season. Bruce, what's the excitement level for you?
Texas Ohio State.

Speaker 7 (20:48):
Can't wait, Jason.

Speaker 11 (20:49):
I mean, this is the best week one we've ever
had in college football. You have a one verse two
matchup as obviously you remember Texas was knocked out of
the playoff last year by the Buckeye and now you
have the Arch Manning factor.

Speaker 7 (21:03):
You have new coordinators.

Speaker 11 (21:05):
At Ohio State on both sides of the ball, including
Matt Patricia who's never really coached in college football and
now he's got to defend Arch.

Speaker 7 (21:12):
That's huge.

Speaker 11 (21:13):
You got two other top ten matchups later that weekend.

Speaker 7 (21:18):
I mean it's.

Speaker 4 (21:23):
All right, let me just quickly ask about this. Matt Patricia.
He is the rocket scientist if memory serves from his
days in New England Detroit, Matt Patricia kind of a
divisive figure. But as you said, he's had all off
season to prepare for Art. He's also got maybe the
best defensive player in the country and Downs. I think
they kind of bottle up the Texas offense here. Bruso,

(21:45):
what's your read on that one.

Speaker 11 (21:48):
It's going to be interesting to see what kind of
answers does he have. Does he do a lot of
what Jim Knowles, who was the offense the defense coordinator
last year, he did it such a good job for
Ohio State. As you mentioned, Caleb Downs, their safety. I
think he's the best defensive player in the country. Is
just a unique chess piece because he's so smart in
what they can do with him. They have two elite
linebackers who are really special athletes in Sunny Styles and

(22:10):
r bel Reese. The d line is mostly new, right.
They have talent there, but it's new guys. The part
that I think I'm most curious about in this game
is it's not just Arch, it's four new starters on
the offensive line. You lost a top ten pick who's
now with the Saints at left tackle. It's a lot
of new guys and it's a tough road environment. I mean,

(22:31):
we'll see how Patricia does, you know, long term this season.
It reminds me a little bit of a similar situation
Texas faced early last year on the road when they
went to Michigan. Wink Martindale, who hadn't been in college.
He stepped in it at Michigan and it was a
mismatch Sark versus wink Martindale early in the year. Stark's

(22:54):
still there is a more mobile quarterback, albeit less experience
than Quinn Ewers. And it's also a new offensive line though,
and that's the part where I'm fascinated to see how
Arch does behind a new group that is going to
be feeling its way out in a very hostile setting.

Speaker 4 (23:10):
Let me ask you, Bruce, are you surprised that Arch
did not throw a pass at all in the SEC
championship game or the two playoff games. They had a
couple of running packages for him, but.

Speaker 3 (23:20):
Not one pass.

Speaker 4 (23:21):
To me, to an outsider, that's kind of a lack
of confidence in him getting it done in a big
spot or was there dynamic with Queen Youewers that maybe
I don't understand.

Speaker 7 (23:32):
No, I just think it's in the moment.

Speaker 11 (23:33):
Look when mid season Georgia comes in there and they
are slaughtering Texas, they bench Ewers give Arch a chance.
Arch gave him a spark for a second, and then
Georgia just overwhelmed him too.

Speaker 7 (23:46):
I think I wouldn't read.

Speaker 11 (23:48):
Too much into anything that happened last year with that
Texas team.

Speaker 7 (23:52):
You remember the year before Texas came very close.

Speaker 11 (23:55):
To playing for the national title, they lost to Washington
and Michael Pennix. You know, it wasn't like yours is
a scrub. Yours has played a lot. He you know,
he he operated well at times in the offense. And
I think it was just about like, hey, let's make
sure when Arch is really ready, he's ready to go.
And I think having it all off, a full off

(24:17):
season to kind of grow into this position and get ready, I.

Speaker 7 (24:22):
Think it's probably ideal for them.

Speaker 11 (24:24):
But I you know, again, I wouldn't you can always
second guest play callers on both sides of the ball.
I wouldn't, you know, see Sarkeys, it's as good as
there is in college football, especially in like third down
stuff and different you know things. Obviously you can hindsight
is twenty twenty. I'm sure there's a bunch of calls
in that game. Sark would have loved that have back,
But credit to Jim Knowles, he had answers.

Speaker 4 (24:44):
Yeah, let's go to Miami. Notre Dame obviously a rich
history between these two. I'm on the Irish here, but
there are some questions about Notre Dame of quarterback. Their
defense is stacked Love the running back. Where are you
on this matchup?

Speaker 11 (24:58):
Yeah, it's not just the right back you're talking about.
Jeremiah Love is fantastic. That running back room is deep
behind him, JD.

Speaker 7 (25:04):
Price.

Speaker 11 (25:05):
They have some young backs they really like. But again CJ. Carr,
you know, he's a talented passer, but this is his
first big test, right and they're going to Miami and
this is a completely new defense. And I'm not saying
how it's going to go for Matt Patricier or not.
But in Corey Heatherman, we have a much more experienced
college defensive coordinator who's stepping in. Miami was awful on

(25:27):
defense last year. They were explosive on offense. With cam Ward.
I think Miami is going to be much improved this
year because of the defensive side of the ball. And
I think everything I've heard at a Coral Gables has
been very positive on how Corey Heatherman has changed things.
I think this is a tricky spot for the Irish.
They're talented, as you said, but again, new quarterback, that

(25:50):
place can be pretty loud. It's not the old Range Bowl,
but ask players on the on the Notre Dame team
that got blown off the field like forty eight to seven,
like when Manny Diaz was there. That place can get
loud in the right spot. And I expected to later
this weekend. And again, Carson Beck is now the starter
at Miami. There's been a lot of positive reports coming

(26:14):
out of there from the coaches I know there.

Speaker 7 (26:16):
They have a really good offensive line.

Speaker 11 (26:17):
I would not at all be surprised if Miami beats
them this weekend.

Speaker 4 (26:20):
All right. I got to ask Bruce, You're like, the
coach is a positive on corson Bank. Have you ever
got preseason negative stuff from coaches on a quarterb Yeah.

Speaker 7 (26:29):
Definitely, it's you definitely do.

Speaker 11 (26:32):
But those are the things you shy away from bringing
up and saying, oh yeah, coaches are kind of skittish,
skittish about this guy. I mean, maybe some of the
stuff you talk about around it may come up, but
there's definitely a bunch of stuff where you end up
in the back of your head and sometimes you talk
about it. You know, we have a podcasts where we'll
talk a little bit more about the stuff I might

(26:52):
be concerned about at Ohio State or the stuff I
might be concerned about on this team of that team.

Speaker 7 (26:57):
But you know, you kind of balance and all the
information you get.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
Okay, So does Beck lose the game with a pick
or stripsack fumble? How does he blow this one? I
just don't have a lot of faith in the guy.
And this is coming from somebody last year at this
time who was like, oh, yeah, Carson Beck, he's got
to be the favorite to go number one in the draft.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (27:16):
I know, I wouldn't get so over your skis on
the draft component of this, because that's what people thought.

Speaker 7 (27:20):
And then you know what happened.

Speaker 11 (27:22):
Brock Bauers went to the NFL and Lad McConkie went
to the NFL, and the receiving group beneath him wasn't
very good and he pressed. I mean, right now, he's
got a really good offensive line, he's got an elite
running back in Jordan Lyles, and they have a lot
of young talent at receiver.

Speaker 7 (27:39):
So you know, again, I know this.

Speaker 11 (27:44):
The Ravens offensive coordinator, Todd Munkin, who had Beck early on,
was very effusive in how smart he is, how quick
his release is, and all those things. I mean, look,
give a lot of credit also to Shannon Dawson, Miami's
OC because going into last year, the NFL had a
fifth round grade on cam Ward. Where did the end

(28:04):
up getting drafted a couple of months ago. First, overall,
I'm not saying that it was all Shannon Dawson, but
Shannon Dawson the offense quarter and knows what he's doing,
and I would expect Carson Beck will have a pretty
big year in this system.

Speaker 4 (28:16):
That's good insight. Let's go to the other matchup LSU Clemson.
Another bet that I made was Clemson undefeated regular season. Obviously,
if they clear this hurdle or favored the rest of
the way, I'm just curious. This is a battle of
these quarterbacks who everybody seems to like for the draft
next year. Club Nick and Nussmeyer. Where are you on
these two heading into the season.

Speaker 7 (28:38):
I like them.

Speaker 11 (28:39):
I think they're both really smart quarterbacks. They don't have
like great size. Nuss Meyer's more of a gun slowinger
coaches kid, you know, I think both guys are really
good leaders.

Speaker 7 (28:51):
They see the field really well. The part that we're
going we.

Speaker 11 (28:55):
Need to see a big step up from them is,
especially with aaron Usmeyer, is how they play against ranked teams.
You look at the numbers, they were not good. Neither
guy was really good, but Garrett really struggled. And now
a little like arch Manning, he's got an entirely rebuilt
offensive line. They had four offensive linemen who played in

(29:16):
the Senior Bowl, including you know, the Patriots top five
pick Will Campbell. So now you got to rebuilt offensive line.
That place is going to be even more hostile at
night than what you're going to have in Columbus. And
unlike the Buck guys, this defensive line Clemson has. Peter
Woods was one of my highest guys on my Freaks list.
I think he'll be a top five pick. He's a
three hundred ten pound defensive tackle who runs forty five.

(29:40):
They have like three other guys on the defense who
I think will be top forty picks next year. And
then they have another guy, Sammy Brown, who when he's
able to come out for the draft, I think he's
going to be go really high as a linebacker who
can run, who can run like the win. Tom Allen's
a new defensive coordinator. I think this is a big
upgrade from what Clemson had on defense last year year.
I'm a little nervous about the Clemson pick now because

(30:02):
now I see that you're on the bandwagon the god.

Speaker 7 (30:07):
As soon as you said it, my eyes kind of
rolled back.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
Well, this is a yeah, I'm not gonna lie like
I've been down on Dabo for Dabbo for a couple
of years now, since he refused to go to the portal,
and then you came on my podcast. You were like, Bro,
this defensive line is filthy. I'm worried for Nusmeyer. In
the opener, I think he could be under some pressure.
So you have Clemson is number one in your college
football playoff seatings.

Speaker 11 (30:29):
Huh, I do you know a couple of things. As
I mentioned Tom Allen, everything I've heard has gotten the
defense much more in synct.

Speaker 7 (30:38):
They were like out of it. Last year they had.

Speaker 11 (30:40):
Some players, you know, some inexperience in key spots. As
I said, now, Sammy Brown is a second year player.
He was a true freshman playing a lot last year
in a key role. The other big thing is when
Clemson was winning national titles, they had elite receiver play.
That's when even right before when the program started to
get closer, when Hodge Boyd was putting up big numbers,

(31:01):
they had elite receivers. They dropped off in the last
few years. The receiver room is backed closer to where
it used to be. You know, Brian West West co
is a big time guy. They have three guys there
who are really big athletic playmakers. I like how club
Nick has continued to mature. He showed sm playmaking ability.
We saw that at times last year and again, you know,

(31:24):
they did go in the portal a little bit.

Speaker 7 (31:26):
Or they have a good defensive end they took from Purdue.

Speaker 11 (31:29):
I feel like everybody got a good player from doing
They were awful last year, but still they you know,
I like where Clemson is now. I would caution people
on this, Like last year Clemson got blown out by
an SEC team in the opener by Georgia.

Speaker 7 (31:43):
LSU lost their opener.

Speaker 11 (31:45):
Brian Kelly's never won an opener since he's been at LSU.
Clemson made the playoff even without you know, like you
can stumble out of the gate and still have a
really good season. The thing to watch for for me
on the LSU. I think Ellish's really talented. They got
a ton of freaky athletes in the receiver room for
nuss Meyer.

Speaker 7 (32:05):
But Brian Kelly's put so much in this game.

Speaker 11 (32:07):
You know, He's put Clemson Tiger Pauls all over the
facility just to kind of reinforce how big of a
deal this game is.

Speaker 7 (32:14):
You lose the game, you do worry about does some
of the air come out of the balloon? And how
do you bounce back from it?

Speaker 11 (32:19):
They have you not a big opponent the next week,
but a couple of weeks later they have Florida, and
Florida beat them last year.

Speaker 4 (32:25):
Yeah, anybody watching? He has his predictions on the screen
for the playoffs. Seven is Iowa State? Now? Was that
before or after their win over Kansas? No?

Speaker 7 (32:35):
That was before? Really that was before.

Speaker 11 (32:38):
Yeah, Look, Matt Campbell's a really good coach. When I
spoke to him for a while this summer. One of
the things that he stressed is, you know, five years
or so ago, they had the best season in Iowa
state history. They finished number nine. Then the culture of
the program kind of got away from them a little
bit for a variety of reasons. He was telling me
and talking to some of the players inside the program.

(32:59):
You know, he's got rock Obec, Anthony Beck's son, who
is just a gamer. He's a really tough kid. He
makes finds a way to make plays in the clutch.
He's just got like kind of the winner quality to him.
And he ended up beating out an elite eleven, you know,
higher rank to recruit JJ Cole and ended up transferring
out for the job and hung onto the job.

Speaker 7 (33:19):
And I think it's a big deal.

Speaker 11 (33:21):
Like he talked about how much rock Obec has helped
in re establishing the culture there. You saw it last
week when he trusted his guy on fourth and three
in a tough spot with a little over two minutes left.

Speaker 7 (33:34):
He went for it and it paid off.

Speaker 11 (33:36):
And again Matt Campbell over the last couple of years
has been one of the most conservative coaches when it
comes to going for it on fourth down, and he
was like, scrap that. I trust my guys to come through.

Speaker 7 (33:46):
They did.

Speaker 11 (33:48):
I'm not saying they're running the table, but I think
they're going to win the Big Twelve, and I do
think they'll be a playoff.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
I don't think Texas Tech in there anywhere, Bruce, that's
my long shot to make the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
But I do see Arizona State. We love that team.
Quarterback coach Texas Tech. Any thoughts? Can they can they
sneak in?

Speaker 11 (34:05):
I mean, they spent a ton of money on the portal,
they got a big budget.

Speaker 7 (34:09):
They've upgraded on both lines.

Speaker 11 (34:10):
Now Quentin Joyner, who was at USC last year, really
their most talented running back. As we reported, you know,
a couple of days ago, he's out for the season
with an injury. That's going to hurt them because now
they have two, you know, largely unproven backs. So we're
gonna have to shoulder the load. We'll see how this
is going to go. I mean, I think they'll be

(34:31):
pretty good. I don't know if they to me. The
gap between all these teams and the Big Twelve is
so close, you know, I just think that there's there's
nobody who has Ohio State, Penn State, you know, LSU,
Georgia kind of talent in this it's not even close
like so in here, it's very bunchie. It's like which
quarterback do you trust the most and which which.

Speaker 7 (34:54):
Team can just kind of go on a roll.

Speaker 11 (34:56):
Last year Arizona State, I felt like they fed off
Camp Skataboo's energy and they went from being the team
everybody thought was at the bottom to win in the
whole winning the whole conference and then almost knocking Texas
out of the playoff. You know, so I like Kenny Dillingham.
I think he's a great fit there. You know, I
think there'll be the other team in the playoff. But
you never know what the big twelve. The teams you

(35:17):
think are going to be really good just bottom out,
and the teams you don't expect much from they end
up surging.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
All right, Last one, real quick.

Speaker 4 (35:24):
Bryce Underwood is the new quarterback at Michigan. This is
the kid who got like a ton of money, right,
wasn't he heavily recruited by some some donor? He flipped
from LSU to Michigan. What's the status on the on
the Wolverines here?

Speaker 11 (35:38):
Yeah, he's going to be the guy. I mean, he's
six six four two thirty can really run. You know,
he was the top ranked high school quarterback in the
country last year. He's got, you know, high level playmaking skills.
Everybody down there is excited about him. But he's still
a true freshman quarterback. The thing that would that would
give me pause about him is he's a true rushman

(36:00):
quarterback and there is not a ton of elite talent
around him.

Speaker 7 (36:04):
On offense.

Speaker 11 (36:05):
He does not have anything close to what Penn State
has in the.

Speaker 7 (36:10):
Running back room.

Speaker 11 (36:10):
He has nothing close to what Julian's saying at Ohio
State has.

Speaker 7 (36:14):
From the receiver room.

Speaker 11 (36:16):
You know, the all line is not what it used
to be when JJ McCarthy was playing behind it. Then
they had like one of the best old lines in
the country. I think right now it's pretty good, but
I don't know if it's any more than that.

Speaker 7 (36:26):
Last year it wasn't even that, you know.

Speaker 11 (36:28):
And by the way, last year they had Kalel Mullings
who they leaned on and really won some games for them.
That guy's gone. I think they're more of an eight
and four kind of team. I'm fascinated to see how
he does. You have a new offensive coordinator, Ship Lindsay
comes in. I don't expect them to throw it all
over the yard, but they couldn't pass it at all
last year. I think they will be able to throw

(36:49):
it some because you have a guy who last year
they wanted Alex Orgy, who is like similar size, really athletic,
probably not as instinctive of a runner, and struggled as
a passer, and they did not have difference makers outside
your Colston Levelin was a really good.

Speaker 7 (37:07):
Tight end, but he got banged up.

Speaker 11 (37:10):
It's hard for me to look at Michigan and say, oh, yeah,
they're anywhere near as good as Penn State or Ohio State.

Speaker 7 (37:16):
I don't feel like that right about right now about them.

Speaker 4 (37:19):
All right. Bruce Feldman, Fox Sports, great stuff. He's king
of college football. Enjoy the opener, Bruce. Everybody will be
watching you and following you online. Thanks buddy, Thanks you
all right. Great stuff for Bruce Feldman. Now, folks, I
don't want to sound like a five alarm fire, but
we have major seismic news. Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift

(37:46):
are engaged.

Speaker 5 (37:47):
Do you want me to do the alarm?

Speaker 4 (37:51):
So?

Speaker 5 (37:52):
Teenage girls at home.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
Yeah, people are freaking. My wife just texted me about it.

Speaker 4 (37:56):
So Taylor Swift's I guess Instagram post your English teacher
and your gym teacher are getting married with a stick
of dynamite.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
Congrats to the happy couple.

Speaker 4 (38:07):
Maybe we'll do a little more on this later in
the show or the entire final hour. I don't know.
We may have to bump a guest to bring on
like a wedding plan. I don't know what the game
plan is. There is no playbook for this. But maybe
we'll get Colin to call in and offer his thoughts
on the couple. Remember when people thought this was a hoax.
They were like, oh, this is a fake relationship. Remember
that nonsense.

Speaker 5 (38:28):
Yeah, but you know, real Swifties knew the truth.

Speaker 3 (38:31):
They knew.

Speaker 4 (38:31):
Yes, by the way, you and your family, did you
guys see Taylor Swift out here so far?

Speaker 5 (38:35):
Of course we did. I got two teenage darters. Come on,
this is like Target Demo Central.

Speaker 4 (38:40):
I'm not gonna lie. I know our audience is like
ninety percent men, but I'm gonna be real. I went
to the concert.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
It was fire.

Speaker 4 (38:46):
It was amazing, the best concert I've ever seen.

Speaker 5 (38:49):
I would say this for all the guys out there
listening to this news. This is a reminder to shoot
your shot. Okay, Because Travis Kelcey wanted to meet Taylor's
he thought she was pretty obviously one of the smart
most successful women in the world, and went to the
stadium during her concert to try to meet her. Didn't

(39:09):
work out, so instead he went on his own podcast
and put out the call and just said into the air,
I would like to go out with Taylor Swift. Taylor, please,
I want to go out with you. And it worked.
It worked, Jason, Yeah, shoot your shot. It's never too
long a shot.

Speaker 4 (39:27):
So, by the way, Rachel, our staff is now saying
that you are wearing Taylor Swift red, which you announced
in the first hour. I did, and then they got
engaged in the second hour. Are you do you know something?
Do you want to tell us anything? Nothing?

Speaker 5 (39:40):
We're gonna talk about on TV.

Speaker 4 (39:41):
All right, coming up next, we'll just tear up the
rest of the show and just do Taylor Swift.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
And Travis Kelsey got engaged.

Speaker 4 (39:47):
Everybody's excited, nobody's fired up, and we'll probably talk about
Michael Parsons too, because this is a sports show.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
That's next.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
One more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search her
to listen live or on demand whenever you like.

Speaker 4 (40:10):
Oh, the excitement is just through the roof here at Fox.

Speaker 3 (40:15):
Everybody's fired up.

Speaker 4 (40:16):
Taylor Swift, Travis Kelcey engaged, unbelievable. Oh that what people
are saying, like this is going to be the next
royal wedding here, I mean, whenever they set the date,
I got one of our guys here on the stage
was like, I know who I'm not drafting in fantasy
any guy who's ever been part of wedding.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
Playing kind of involved and you can only do so much.

Speaker 4 (40:39):
Yeah, sure, sure, whatever you want.

Speaker 3 (40:40):
I do need to ask.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
So according to the Associated Press, Rachel, Yes, they have
been dating for two years. Yes, I don't know how
personal you want to get. But before you were married,
how long did you date the guy you ended up marrying.

Speaker 5 (40:55):
I'm a little different. So I dated the guy I
ended up marrying when I was a team It's summer
camp WHOA, And then we didn't see each other for
ten years, and then he tracked me down and found
me and we dated for less than a year before
we got engaged. So it's one of those things where
because it worked out, it's incredibly romantic and if it
hadn't worked out, the tracking down would have been stalking.

(41:16):
So well, you know, we'll never know.

Speaker 4 (41:17):
I was about to say, so, is he a official
stalker or no Facebook or fantastic?

Speaker 5 (41:23):
And you know I'm married for twenty.

Speaker 4 (41:25):
Some of the years. That's congratulations. The whole like two
years seems like OKOD. But I don't know if they've
lived together. I know that the old school.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
People are gonna be like, no, can't live together.

Speaker 4 (41:35):
I highly recommend living together before you get married. I
don't know if these two have because a little do
you want to share any insight onto that one or No?

Speaker 5 (41:44):
I believe that they have lived in each other's homes, meetings,
and a weekend is different than living. No, I don't
think it's been a weekend. So they did did you?
Did you listen to the two hour podcast?

Speaker 3 (41:55):
No, my wife and daughter did.

Speaker 4 (41:58):
I was just like shocking in from the other room
watching Hunting Wives on low volume.

Speaker 5 (42:04):
So, by the way, I can't believe you're looking down
your nose at Taylor and Travis because you were watching
hunting mobs. But we'll get back to that. No, they
were talking all about like what they do at home.
She's really into baking sourdough at the moment. She has
all these nicknames for her sour doughs that he does
this around the house. She does that around the house.
And to me, the most revelatory things she said about

(42:26):
the NFL and how much she's changed as a football fan,
because of course, you know, there's been a lot of
uproar about how much do they show her on the
screen and why is she in my space and all
of that stuff. She freely admits she's like when we
started dating, I didn't know what a tight end was.
And she made a joke that she thought the quarterbacks
actually faced each other on the field, that all the
players were out at the same time, which I mean,

(42:47):
you know, it's kind of good. Was in that top
Gun movie.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
Right, that's how we talk about you do say, hey,
quarterback's Battley?

Speaker 3 (42:53):
Right, Yeah, you said Patrick.

Speaker 5 (42:54):
Mahomes versus Josh All.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
Yes, is whatever?

Speaker 5 (42:56):
Anyway, but she has become such a diehard that she
said that she and Travis were in different places during
the NFL draft a year ago and she start running
through the house screaming.

Speaker 3 (43:08):
We drafted Xavier were they.

Speaker 5 (43:10):
And her friends who were over at the house were like,
did someone.

Speaker 4 (43:13):
Body snatch you?

Speaker 5 (43:14):
I mean, she's clearly into it and they spend a
lot of.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
Time together before we get to herd line.

Speaker 4 (43:20):
I'm sure you guys have seen the memes, but Travis
Kelce has changed a lot in the last like seven years.
His look, Yeah, he was like me. He had the
two hoopier rings. He would wear like gold chains. And
I saw a meme that I just started dying of laughter.
Was Travis Kelce used to look like a guy who
sold zape cartridges behind seven to eleven and now he's
marrying the most famous person in the world, and it's

(43:42):
kind of funny.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
Anyways, all right, let's go to Rachel with the news.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
One more Heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search her
to listen live or on demand whenever you like.

Speaker 4 (43:55):
Welcome back to the Herd. In between news about Travis
kelcea Taylor. So if we're going to actually talk sports,
because you know that's what we're here for, So Brandon
John Machoda Cowboys reporter covering the team for the Athletic Oh, John,
I'm sure you are just loving the dog days of
August as everybody waits for Jerry to blink with Michaeh Parsons.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
Are you spending your days right now excited.

Speaker 12 (44:21):
Phone in hand, constantly seeing if there's anything that's changed.

Speaker 3 (44:25):
No, it's fine. I mean it's not like this is new.

Speaker 7 (44:28):
You know.

Speaker 12 (44:28):
This is what the Dallas Cowboys do. They've done it
with Dak Prescott, They've done it with Ceedee lamb, Zach Martin,
Ezekiel Elliott as Brian. I mean, list goes on and
on and in the end, what happens is the players
always end up getting their money. So it seems very
ugly to people that aren't around it, and it might
even get uglier than it is right now, But ultimately
Michaeh Parsons isn't going anywhere and he will eventually get

(44:50):
a new contract.

Speaker 7 (44:51):
From the Dallas Cowboys.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
Yeah, it's weird there.

Speaker 4 (44:54):
They made the big splash move going after Pickins, so
the offense could actually be kind of good. I don't
you know, Dak Prescott, healthy Pickens on the outside lamb
on the outside, like they could be good offensively. I
just have so many questions about the defense, and of course,
Schottenneimer's head coach, I'm curious where you are was Shoddy
leading this team?

Speaker 12 (45:13):
I mean, I like him from a media perspective. He's
very media friendly. He certainly understands our job. But there's
just a lot of questions that I don't think have
been answered yet. I mean, there's only so much you
can get out of training camp. There's only so much
you can get out of preseason games where they're not
really playing many starters at all, and that's really been
the case for Dak Prescott.

Speaker 7 (45:32):
For the last four or five years, and so you
really don't know.

Speaker 12 (45:35):
And then you match in the George Pickens and how
he fits with the offense. The fact that Brian has
said that he's trying to be as vanilla as possible
at camp and then also in these preseason games because
he doesn't want anybody to know what he can show
on offense, and so certainly it should be a good
passing game. I just have questions about the run game.
And if you can't run the ball, I don't know
how teams don't just sit there and drop two safeties

(45:58):
as deep as possible and say, I'm not gonna let
Ceedee Lamb and George Pickens beat us.

Speaker 7 (46:03):
What is your counter to that? And that's what we
don't know yet.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
Yeah, it's weird.

Speaker 4 (46:06):
They've moved off of the starting running back maybe three
years in a row. I'm not sure if that's exactly right.
But Rico had a good year last year and now
they were Javonte Williams. Listen. I don't know if you
play fantasy, He's the kind of guy that you pick
up and then drop within a week because he'll go
for like five carries for like twelve yards and you're like,
this guy's not very good. You're right.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
The run game is a major problem, is it not?
It is, and I'm just done that.

Speaker 12 (46:32):
Over these last two years, there hasn't been a bigger
move to add a veteran running back or draft one
in one of the first two days of the draft.
And so as we say here today, Javonte Williams will
be the starter. So for those looking for who the
Cowboy starter would be in fantasy, I would say Javonte Williams.
Jayden Blue their fifth round pick out of Texas would

(46:52):
be the guy that adds.

Speaker 7 (46:53):
Some juice to the offense.

Speaker 12 (46:55):
But he's coming off of a little bit of an
ankle injury, and so I don't know how how quickly
he'll be utilized.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
I'm sure he'll get some touches against.

Speaker 12 (47:03):
Philadelphia, but I don't think that he's enough to We'll
push you Andtey Williams away, and then behind them it's
I think a little bit of Cavante Turpin. The wide
receiver might be a little bit of a wild card there,
maybe two or three touches a game. They will hand
the ball occasionally to Ceedee Lamb as well, and so
I don't think it is going to be just your
you know, solid normal Ezekiel Elliott.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
You know, DeMarco Murray type running game.

Speaker 12 (47:27):
I think it's going to be a variety of things
that might even include the fullback hunter lipkey.

Speaker 3 (47:31):
It's interesting listening to you talk about some of these guys.

Speaker 4 (47:35):
I start looking at their draft history, and Jerry, he's
had a couple whiffs in recent years. Huh, last year,
nobody really distinguished themselves in the draft.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
Two years ago they did all right. And then there's
the Vazzie.

Speaker 4 (47:47):
Smith pick which has been an unmitigated disaster. Like listen,
I know he's a billionaire, he runs the team, but
at any point do you anticipate cowboys brass sitting down
of being like, guys, we're going to have to do something,
or is it there's just no chance of that happening?
Are drop in terms of Michael Parsons, well, Jerry Jones

(48:10):
watching every contract, I no, that will never change him out.

Speaker 7 (48:13):
But no, that's not.

Speaker 12 (48:15):
As long as he's around, nobody will be stepping in
and saying, I mean, we've seen it with.

Speaker 7 (48:19):
This Michael Parsons thing. It was I would.

Speaker 12 (48:22):
Say a few months ago something where I can see
Stephen Jones being involved. It's done. Now this is a
Jerry situation. It will get done when Garry wants it
to get done. So it remains that way. Now, Jerry
does listen to the people around him, you know, I
don't want it to come off as like he just
goes around and he just goes with whatever the you know,
the last person he talks to.

Speaker 7 (48:43):
There's a lot of rumors of that.

Speaker 3 (48:45):
Now.

Speaker 12 (48:45):
He listens to people that are around him, but on
these big decisions, he's he's going to be the final
say on these things. And so that's why when you
see the Micah contract dragging out, people often ask me,
how do you think it'll be different when Steven Jones
is running the team.

Speaker 3 (48:58):
There won't be as many of these things. I mean,
Jerry has an.

Speaker 12 (49:02):
Ability to hold a grudge like very few others, and
where we're at right now with that, I think is
a great example of it. And I don't think anybody
can talk him out of it. He has to do
it himself.

Speaker 4 (49:12):
So he's now going on podcasts. He went on a
podcast with Michael Irvin. This is an eight a guy
over eighty years old going on a podcast and he's
actually seems like he was talking trash about this Micah
situation with the agent and shoving it up his button
like it just did not sound good at all.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
What's your tay?

Speaker 4 (49:30):
Have you spoken with Micah's agent and where's he on
all this?

Speaker 7 (49:35):
Not recently?

Speaker 12 (49:36):
No, I don't have much contact with him, and that's
I think by design. David Mullagetta, who you're talking about,
Michael Parsons agent, much like Todd Franz. These are two
of the top agents in the NFL, and Todd Franz
doesn't do much media either, and he represents Dak Prescott
and has gotten Dak Prescott two of the.

Speaker 7 (49:57):
Most incredible deals.

Speaker 12 (49:58):
The last two times that they've gon on to the
table against Jerry Jones, they've no question won those battles.
And so if you're David Mullagetta, why not do the
exact same thing.

Speaker 3 (50:08):
You don't need to get in a war of words.

Speaker 12 (50:11):
You let everything take care of itself, and let Jerry
do what he does, say what he says. But the
track record speaks for itself, and that Jerry ends up
paying all of these players. Things got ugly with Ezekiel elliott.
I remember being in Hawaii for a preseason game where
Tony Poward looked pretty good and Zeke was in a holdout,
and myself and a couple other reporters are standing with

(50:31):
Jerry after the game and he said Zeke who, as
if Zeke wasn't needed for the team, And then you know,
you fast forward three weeks later, if that he's signing Zeke,
and then they're holding a T shirt up that says
Zeke Who, and everybody's laughing and having a good time.
So it's like Jerry is fine with everything. Getting ugly.
The issue you run into is it causes problems for

(50:53):
everybody else. And the players will say it's not a distraction,
and the coaches will say it's not a distraction, But
it's an issue not to have your best player on
the field throughout training camp with the new coaching staff.

Speaker 7 (51:02):
And so even if.

Speaker 12 (51:04):
This gets done in the eleventh hour, it's cost you
all that time when Micah could have been on the
field with this new defensive coordinator, with this new coaching staff.

Speaker 4 (51:12):
What about lying on the table. I know it only
was brief, it barely happened, but it happened. You know,
everybody wants to make a big deal out of it.
Schottenheimer getting asked about it afterward. Just talk me through
watching it go down in your thoughts.

Speaker 7 (51:27):
Yeah, sore.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
It's in the third quarter.

Speaker 12 (51:30):
And another media member mentioned it to me and said, hey,
look at where Mike is at.

Speaker 7 (51:35):
And I was like, okay.

Speaker 12 (51:36):
You know, of course, being the journalist that I am,
i snapped a picture with my phone, but I'm like, yeah,
maybe it just is going to last for like thirty seconds,
not a big deal. And then a minute goes by,
two minutes go by three, four or five minutes and
I'm like, all right, well I'm posting this. Others have
already posted this. It just doesn't look good. But with
that being said, even when things are going well with

(51:57):
the Cowboys and have gone well with Mike in the past,
he isn't the best body language guy, whether you're at
practice or whatever. And it was kind of funny that
Dak Prescott made mention of that yesterday when we talked
to him about you know, Mikea's body language has clearly
been that he doesn't want to be at these practices,
he does not want to be at these preseason games.
He wants a new contract. And so even Dak joke that,

(52:18):
you know, it's not like he's ever been the best
in that category in terms of the body language. But
it's very clear that that Mike's frustrated and that while
he wants to be there for his teammates, he wants
to try and drive this hard bargain that I'm not
going to be out there until I get this new contract.

Speaker 7 (52:33):
And now you basically have these two.

Speaker 12 (52:35):
Trains headed towards each other, and who's going to give first,
you know, or are they just going to run into
each other and it's going to be a disaster. I
seem to think someone's going to give in eventually. I
just don't know if it's week one.

Speaker 4 (52:46):
Ooh oh, So you're saying you think there's like a
maybe fifty percent chance Micah does not play in week one.
The line's kind of pinballing between seven and six. It's
at seven now. I guess that's assuming, Hey, Michael Parza
playing week one.

Speaker 12 (53:00):
So when I was saying that, I kind of meant
that a contract.

Speaker 7 (53:03):
Might not be done week one.

Speaker 12 (53:04):
I think to give you percentages, I would say, I
think that's an eighty percent chance that Michael Parsons is
on the field. I think there's a seventy five percent
chance that it's without a new contract. I think that
Jerry's pretty dug in on this one. Someone has to
make a first call. He still hasn't talked to David Mullagetta.
A deal is not going to get done until he
talks to David. And so who makes that first call.

(53:25):
I don't get the sense that David's going to make
that call. And so does this just come down to
Jerry Jones one night, having one extra Johnny Walker blue and.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
Giving in and making this call. Maybe that's what it is.

Speaker 4 (53:38):
Good stuff, all right, John, You even know his drink.
John Majoda covers the Cowboys for the Athletic Good Stuff man,
Thank you very much,