February 4, 2026 • 31 mins
San Francisco All Pro RB Christian McCaffrey joined the show to talk about his unique relationship with Sam Darnold along with 2-Time Super Bowl Champ Chris Long
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
One of the things I always look at with a
veteran NFL player, has he ever been a team captain?
That tells you a lot about the guy. Cam Hayward
has been a team captain for the Steelers for eleven years.
He's going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer,
six time All Pro, fifteen years, same team, and he
is joining us at the Super Bowl. You know it's
(00:48):
I asked you fair, I said, fifteen years in the league.
What do you feel like when you wake up in
the morning and tell the audience what your answer was?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
It feels like fifteen years of past.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
You know, you you have Mike Tomlin's interesting because Emmanuel Sanders,
I think it was, was on my show a couple
of weeks ago and he said, you can talk about
the coach. He goes, Mike Tomlin changed me the guy
like what to do with my money? When I came
into the league, I was kind of I didn't know anything,
And you had a fifteen year relationship with Mike. Now
(01:25):
it's not all good. I mean, it can't be. There's
got to be disagreements. But tell me about Mike the
guy that I don't see.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Mike is very approachable and voicing like anything to him.
He might not agree with you, and he might have
a different way of seeing it, but he makes himself
available to discuss your problems. He's able to, you know,
cut past a lot of the crap and say like, yeah,
that's great, but we're going to go in a different direction,
(01:56):
or this is what we have to do. Forward have
to put the team first. The one thing I loved
about Mike was just his honesty to the game, understanding
that there are initial cuts in our league in preparing
the right one.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I've seen him on two
interviews since he coached the Steelers, and he's so happy
and funny, and I'm like, the NFL has a way
of making people, you know. I mean, you watch Belichick
when he left New England. I watched him on the ESPN.
He's cracking jokes, he's having a good time. There is
an argument, and I said this, I can think Mike's
(02:32):
a Hall of Famer, but I do think coaches have
a lifespan.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
In a room.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Is there not an argument, like, listen, when you spend
that much time with one team, maybe it was better
for Mike to take a deep breath in some time off.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Is that fair?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Well, it's definitely fair. I think the first part of
what you said. He's definitely got the glow of going
into an offseason not having the pressure in the weight
of having a team to prepare for. But he also
gets to, you know, spend some time with his family.
I think I was just texting one this morning's talking
about his daughter killing it a Georgia and gymnastics. But
(03:11):
as much as there can't be a long shelf life,
I don't think we provide coaches enough time to actually
find out if they were a good coach or Now.
There's a lot of hit or miss, and you know,
after a year or two, it's, hey, we got to
bounce you because we really want to try out something new.
What Mike has been able to accomplish, I know he
only has one Super Bowl, but it's a lot more
than what any other coach can say, and he's the
(03:33):
cream of the crop. I think every year you're always
going to wonder is Mike Tomlin coming out of retirement
because he was just that good of a coach.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So Seattle, New England rare position. You guys really beat up.
Drake Maya had multiple sacks, He really struggled, probably his
worst game. Seattle came out in the second half and
took it to you. So there's a lot of similarities
between the two. I think the weakness of both the
Seahawks Patriots probably the old line is not great. And
(04:02):
I do think both are young, good mobile quarterbacks, defensive coaches.
There's talent all over the field, especially on the defensive side.
Let's first talk about Seattle. When you guys played them,
it was kind of an eye opening result. We all
kind of went, oh, oh, wait a minute, this darnold
thing may work. When that game was over, what was
(04:24):
your interpretation of Seattle.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I thought they played through emotions. You know, they can
actually bounce back from situations that were a little bit
catastrophic in our game early and then really capitalized on
us in the second half. I know we had a
big turnover at half in our game, but you know
they were able to, you know, keep drives alive even
(04:47):
when I think we had a big play. I think
I tipped the ball and then Nick Herbig picked it off.
They were able to bounce back from that. And you
know their defense is really good. You got Lerner Williams,
you got Byron Young upfront, and if they have a
good game, usually they're winning the game.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Now, New England was different.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
They had a lot of new faces, free agents, five
rookies playing, and to be honest with you, it unraveled.
It felt like they got a little I mean that's
what my interpretation watching it was. Cam you got into
their head. You kind of intimidated them. You made Drake
May play faster than he was comfortable playing. So I imagine
you came out of that game and you're are you
(05:27):
surprised today they're in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I think it's indicative that you talk about how they
started and then where they finished, because when they first
got into the league this year, there were a lot
of questions about Drake May and you just watched their
team battle back and become just a better unit on
both sides of the ball. You've got Milton Williams and
you've got Christian Barmol, who dealt with a lot of
injuries last year. Yeah, but then this year just a
(05:52):
different player. And I think having those two Stalworths and
the d line are great, but Drake May is playing
at another level. When we played them the first time,
our big thing was we got to get turnovers from
Drake May and their running backs, and they've really stabilized
that in having Travion as a running back and Drake
May throwing the ball downfield.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
So Mike McCarthy is the new head coach. I had
said on the air, I think he's the offensive Mike Tomlin.
And immediately he's already made upgrades to the staff, or
at least upgrades in his opinion to the staff. And
I've criticized Pittsburgh through the years. I've said, listen, the
rules now favor offense. That you got to be able
(06:31):
to consistently run the ball. That's the reality of this league,
and Pittsburgh for seven years has struggled to identify a
consistent run game.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
That's not a criticism, that's data.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I do think Mike makes you a little more current offensively,
What are your expectations.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
I think you look at what our offense was this
year and you say you have one to two punch
in the running game between Kenneth Gamewell and Jala. Yep,
they've done a really good job and I thought it
was a step up from last year. I look for
that office to just keep growing. You look for Jalen
Warren and Kenth Gamwell to have more touches, and you
(07:11):
look for DK Metcat to have a lot more in
his routtree, a lot more favorable matchups where he's not
just stuck on a number one corner. Let's mix it around.
Let's give him the ball in space. Because when he
has the ball in space, if you look at that
Ireland game where they have the clip of Aaron throwing
DK the ball, one of the prettiest balls you ever see,
(07:32):
and him taking it eighty yards, that's what you want
DK doing.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Were you Aaron's an American iconic star. Pittsburgh is a
hard working, no nonsense town. He appeared to really enjoy Pittsburgh.
Like from the outside, I'm like, oh, Aaron fitz here fight.
I didn't know if you would take me through the
year of Aaron and Pittsburgh and just the camaraderie, the
locker room, the trips.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
How was it for you?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
The camaraderie, the accountability, and just the playmaking. He's special
and I don't think you get enough. He gets enough
credit as a teammate, the way he prepares, the way
the group kind of rallies around him. We have a
lot more fun with him that I can't talk about
on air. But he is a great guy for the
(08:21):
locker room. But he's also a big Nickelback fan. Shout
out Aaron. No, I'm just kidding. He hates Nickelback, but
we But you know, throughout the year, I thought he
was always locked in giving us the best chance to
go forward, and that's what you want from your quarterback.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 5 (08:48):
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I'm also doing a live radio show from three to
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(09:09):
every single day. Some of the biggest names in sports,
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Speaker 6 (09:15):
Calls, I love you got your show.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
It's one of my favorites.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
A lot of interact shit guys not taking themselves too seriously.
Those are just some of the things that you could
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So listen to Steve Gotson Company Live and our original podcast.
Please subscribe, rate and review Stu Gotson Company, and God
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(09:39):
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Speaker 1 (09:50):
You could call it a career and you're a Hall
of famer. What drives you at this point?
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Uh One, I think is trying to win a Super Bowl,
having the opportunity to compete. You know, that's why you
play this game too. I think it's just installing my legacy. Further,
I feel like I still have more work to do
on the field, off the field, and then, you know,
continue to teach the younger guys, continue to learn from
(10:20):
them and continue to just keep growing.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
You are working with the American Cancer Society. You've always
been a charitable guy.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Tell me about it.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, I had a chance to, you know, come on
and be a co captain again with the American Cancer Society.
You know, cancer is pretty prevalent in my family with
my dad suffering from a brain tumor. And I've just
been very close because I've had grandparents or you know,
aunts and uncles that have done with breast cancer as well,
(10:52):
and so be able to spearhead and you know, find
other ways where we get other people to donate and
you know, find a good charts to be able to
save a lot of people's lives and help a lot
of people along the way.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Cam You're a credit to the game and I appreciate
you stopping by the herd.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
You bet a great, great player. I mean when you're
when you're a captain eleven times in your career, that
really speaks volumes of you as a guy. J Maack
with the News.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Turn on the news, this is the headline news.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
Let's continue Super Bowl coverage.
Speaker 7 (11:28):
Talking about Mike McDonald served under John Harbaugh in Baltimore
and McDonald talked about how Harball had an impact on
him as a head coach.
Speaker 6 (11:39):
I don't think it's.
Speaker 8 (11:40):
Possible to overstate his influence influence on me. I love
John Harbaugh.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
He's a.
Speaker 8 (11:46):
He's my one of my biggest mentors. All those principles
that are part of his program that he's about as
a person resonated with me, and uh, those are a
lot of the foundational principles that we that we brought
to Seattle.
Speaker 9 (11:59):
And he's also he's a great friend. He's got a
great family. So I can't say how much I love him.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Boy McDonald has been a hit, hasn't he.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I mean he took that defense from Pete, moved it
up about ten spots, and then he moved it up
to number one or two in the league. And when
you get a really good defensive coach, like obviously Mike
McDaniel goes to Miami and they got all sorts of
motion and different sets, you can see it. Like defensively,
it's harder to see, Oh, that coach has principles. But
(12:30):
when you watch how hard Seattle plays, that's the first
thing I look at. They play hard. The second thing
is they don't give up cheap touchdowns. That was always
the great strength of Belichick. To score on New England,
you had to drive the ball. They didn't give up freebats.
They didn't miss assignments. Seattle doesn't miss a lot of assignments.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
Excellent team. He's had a great two year run. Look
on the screen.
Speaker 7 (12:53):
There twenty four wins over the last two seasons, only
behind McDermott and Sirianni.
Speaker 6 (12:59):
Like, that's pretty impressive for McDonald. I am curious. It's
tough to ask this, colin.
Speaker 7 (13:05):
Do you think there's a lot of wiggle room here
for them to keep going and improve and be at
twelve to thirteen fourteen win team member they lose their
o C Koubiak, he's gonna go coach.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
So I think where they're at, you know, Plateau gets
kind of a bad rap. I think Seattle is going
to be a double digit win team if John Snyder,
Mike McDonald and Sam Donald are together. Boo, I think
they're a double But you and I know San Francisco
and the Rams are a handful. So Donald gets banged
(13:35):
up and misses a month. So a lot of it
comes down to is the quarterback. Charles crossed the left tackle,
Gray's abels, the left side of the offensive line held.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
So they are really deep. They have no real holes.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Their online gets a bad rap the left side of
it's pretty good to me, So I don't know, I
look at them. That's the thing I feel like with
Minnesota firing their GM. It's not just that Sam was
good this year. You can see the runway for Seattle
and you're like, oh, this is gonna be a topic
for two three years. We don't know beyond that. But
(14:10):
Donald's got two more years left on his deal and
the cap hit remains incredibly Seahawk friendly. So and John
Snyder again, Now, but what's interesting, Jason, Now you're drafting
at the end of rounds. That's a hard to go
ask Kansas City and Buffalo. It gets real lean a.
Speaker 7 (14:30):
Year ago though, we were saying Eagles, oh my god,
best roster in the league.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
They won with defense.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
We didn't like their coach though.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
Well that's the thing.
Speaker 7 (14:38):
We'll see what who they replaced Kubek with offensively after
the super Bowl.
Speaker 6 (14:41):
That'll be interesting because Darnold has had a money damn good.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Year and that's a good job. Now, yes, that's a
really good job.
Speaker 6 (14:46):
All right, let's move on.
Speaker 7 (14:47):
To the NBA Colin Trained deadline is Thursday at three o'clock.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
How about this.
Speaker 7 (14:52):
Reports indicate that the Clippers and Cavaliers are looking toward
a deal centering around James Harden and Darius Garland. Now,
I wish you could channel the energy you had when
I asked you about James.
Speaker 6 (15:04):
Harden off air.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
I'd love to see him go to Cleveland.
Speaker 7 (15:08):
Yeay, so he's thirty six years old. Garland is only
twenty six. On the surface, it feels like a weird swap.
Cleveland clearly is in the luxury tax and they're not
like a top three team in the East, so they
don't really want to pay it.
Speaker 6 (15:19):
So I think they're looking to lessen the tax burden.
But let's be real. James Harden is a Hall of Famer,
one of the great Scores, is not.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
A winning player.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Everybody kept getting I mean, Darryl Morey just kept giving
him guys and different coaches and different teammates into the.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
Superstar Warriors with Durant and Curry.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
They're not give him Westbrook and Houston give him Chris
Paul and they gave him. I mean, this guy got
more great teammates and solid coaches and everybody else is
to blame.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
So what you said, you're not Harden?
Speaker 3 (15:51):
No?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I mean he'll make the Hall of Fame, but there's
a lot of guys in the Hall that aren't winning
players led the league in scoring.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Oh wow, how what are you doing the defensive end?
Speaker 7 (15:58):
He was basically Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan got Phil
Collins College.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
No, he was Phil Jackson. Michael Jordan was about winning.
Michael Jordan was not early, not early. Well, he was
a great defensive player.
Speaker 6 (16:10):
He was Harden does not play much defense.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
James Harden is known for the step back in nightclubs.
You am I wrong?
Speaker 6 (16:18):
Cold blooded? Am I wrong? You're not wrong?
Speaker 7 (16:20):
Final story con How about this? This just happened within
the last thirty minutes. Big trade in the NBA. The
Memphis Grizzlies, who have been trying to move John Morant,
instead move Jaren Jackson, their other best player, in a
massive trade.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
He goes to the Utah Jazz.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
The Jazz, I guess with Dwayne Wade and company are
ready to finally try to compete. The Jazz now have
Jaron Jackson, They've got Lori Markinen well, I thought they
would try to score Keyante Georgia, promising young player and
Walker Kessler.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
No, they're going to be a good defensive team. They're
gonna be huge on the front line.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Yep.
Speaker 7 (16:53):
The problem and this is what's so tough. The West
is loaded. So even with this Utah changes, are they
a top six even in the West.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
I'm hearing this for the first time, but Jaron Jackson's
a good player. He's very good, very good players. So
now Utah has four very good players.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Right.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
That feels like a playoff team.
Speaker 6 (17:13):
Yeah, Lakers are gonna have to do something because I
think the Lakers are not doing.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Utah is better.
Speaker 6 (17:19):
They have more better players than the Lakers right now.
They do not high end like Lucas better than everybody.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
And their best players occasionally like to defend too. So this,
this JAD team could be a problem. I don't know
about this year.
Speaker 7 (17:33):
Memphis got three first round picks and players, including Walsas.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
But that's because Utah doesn't need those picks now, right,
And these picks are going to be Utah four really
good players.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
Yeah, NBA is getting it and this is what I love.
Speaker 7 (17:49):
Everybody says, Oh, well, these trades that they're talking about
Giannis and these certain teams, it never works like this.
Just trade, by the way, was not speculated. Nobody had
the Utah Jazz being buyers of Jared Jackson. So remember
Damian Lillard when he was getting traded, Oh it's the
Miami Heat, maybe Toronto.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
Nobody had him going to the Bucks. Giannis is going
to a team that nobody's talking about now Utah.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Utah is not Now.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
First of all, Utah is a not a very good
defensive team, as I make fun of the Lakers.
Speaker 7 (18:16):
They're not, but they will be with Jackson and Kessler
on the back line.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, they're they're not a factor now, but they're also young,
so this gives them. Yeah, I like now years Jared
Jackson been in the lad like.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
Twenty seven, twenty six, twenty seven years ago. Yeah, he's young.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
They've got four guys that you you know, Laurie Marken
has always talked about being traded, but he gives you
a young player, man, dude, he gives.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
You like twenty what does he have for twenty three
to night twenty four nine?
Speaker 6 (18:40):
Yeah, something like that.
Speaker 7 (18:41):
And also, by the way, they have young Ace Bailey
who's coming up? He is, he's got potential. Oh no,
he's got talent.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Yeah, yeah, they give it a couple of years. I
like the trade for Utah. We'll see what's going on
in Memphis.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
J McK of the news, Well, that's the news, and
thanks for stopping by the line News.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Sam Darnald the early years.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Next, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
Weekdays and Noone Easter non a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Well, he's the founder of Quarterback Summit, a program that
helps quarterbacks reach their potential. Played in the NFL for
six years, the Bengals, the Jags, the Bears, the Titans,
and and love Chicago as much as I do now.
His name is Jordan Palmer, quarterback consultant in joining us.
Also founded Thread Performance Nutrition and company that helps young athletes.
(19:33):
So you've worked with Darnald since like high school, and
I remember at USC I think it was Sark if
I recall he was a freshman and Sark said to me,
he goes this kid from Oceanside. He goes, he's really good.
He's got to clean up some stuff. So go back
to the very early Sam Darnald days. What was obvious
(19:55):
what needed work back then.
Speaker 10 (19:59):
Well, I mean I at him when he was fourteen,
and honestly, he was a redheaded, freckled kind of had
buck teeth, and I was throwing with my old high
school coach. I was playing at the time, and I
was but the high school coach. I was thrown with
coach Carson and I when we were little, So I
was joking around. I'm like, hey, that little redhead kid
looks dead on Carson Palmer when he was that age,
and we were laughing about it.
Speaker 9 (20:19):
Fast forward two years and he's.
Speaker 10 (20:20):
In the Elite eleven and that was when I was like, oh,
that kid ended up being good. But really he redshirted
his first year at SC and his second year's red shirt.
Freshman year, he was in a quarterback competition with Max Brown,
who does a great job with media right now, is
a great dude. And Max was a grad senior he
could transfer if he didn't win the job. It was
(20:41):
Clay Helton was the head coach at the time, and honestly,
Sam out performed him. But they opened up week one
at Jerry's World versus Bama. So if they would have
started Sam week one, Max would have transferred and they
would have had a red shirt freshman starter. I think
they had a true freshman backup on a walk on
behind him. So Sam didn't win the job, and I
(21:01):
remember him calling me right after he got the news
and being really upset and talking about it. I remember
that conversation about this is a rep and this is
your first time having to stay ready.
Speaker 9 (21:11):
When you read shirt, you don't have to stay ready.
And they struggle. I think they went one three and.
Speaker 10 (21:15):
When they pulled the trigger on Sam, you know, he
rattled off eight or nine straight Rose Bowl MVP beat Penn,
stayed on fourth down and kind of became Sam Darnold.
Speaker 9 (21:24):
The Suck for Sam campaign started on the internet.
Speaker 10 (21:27):
And watching him handle that and grow through that and
channel the frustration and not being named the starter but
being ready, I think really laid the groundwork for a
lot of these difficult situations that he's been in the
last decade and how well he's handled him.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
When a guy, now Sam has had back to back
MVP level years. If Sam called you, Jordan has said, hey,
hey can I can I come down for a couple
of days?
Speaker 4 (21:53):
What do you work on? Once a player's at a
high level, that's a great question.
Speaker 9 (21:59):
I mean it's different.
Speaker 10 (22:01):
Sam is Sam Burrow and a lot of college guys
are in this program. I operate in the space differently
than anybody else, and that everybody's on retainer for the year.
So with Sam and all my clients, it's broken into quarterly.
Phase one is whenever you start until spring. Phase two
is spring ball or OTAs in the NFL. Phase three
(22:22):
is your best opportunity for growth that's coming out of
spring or OTAs and going into summer. And then phase
four is the season. So in my office, I've got
a golf simulator. This is essentially a content studio, and
we break down practice and games and curate things on
a weekly basis. So I for the last whatever twenty
weeks or how many games he's played this year, we're
pulling things from games and sometimes mirroring and dropping it
(22:44):
into his folder. So he likes to, I think Tuesday
nights watch these and essentially kind of you almost outsource
your mechanics and which is becoming more normal, and so
we're curating things that started on a basketball court in February.
We typically go four to six weeks with him with
no football, and for five years he's been learning a
new offense, which means new footwork.
Speaker 9 (23:06):
So we curate that in phase one, we see what sticks.
Speaker 10 (23:09):
In phase two, which is OTAs address things that didn't stick,
build the off season programming for phase three, and then
in season it's about maintaining it and every now and
then introducing.
Speaker 9 (23:19):
A new idea. And so an example of this was
last year in Minnesota.
Speaker 10 (23:23):
He's five to zero on by week and he's sitting
on my couch right here, and we ran the numbers
and determined that the largest grouping of misses that he
had was outbreaking routes to the right, and it was
twenty four point six percent, I believe. And so we
addressed the mechanical issue, what he was doing mechanically and
what he was doing from an alignment perspective that was
causing those misses.
Speaker 9 (23:43):
One hundred percent of those misses were a little bit
behind the guy. Zero of them were out in front.
Speaker 10 (23:48):
So we gave him things to do around his house,
a golf club between his arms moving seeing that golf
club come into your peripheral vision, turned into tape on
the left shoulder pad building that peripheral vision, and it
was all around front side alignment drawing that shoulder closed.
Since then, he has not missed one to his right
behind the guy we're able to kind of press delete
(24:10):
on the future twenty four point six percent of your
misses in a contract year.
Speaker 9 (24:14):
On the Super Bowl run.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
So Drake may more of an East Coast guy.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
You didn't have the West Coast connection to him initially,
when I feel like not that he's a work in progress.
I think he's a better quarterback than he was in September.
But like when you see him just TV, what jumps
out to you that you like about Drake may.
Speaker 10 (24:36):
Well, I mean, I like everything about Drake may I
remember Josh McCown, I backed him up in Chicago, who
was done playing, figuring out his next move, and was
telling me about this high school kid because he volunteered
coached in high school and he coached Drake May's team.
And then I saw Drake may at the Elite eleven,
so I'd been hearing about him. But I like everything,
(24:58):
And I know that's a bad answer.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Wise, he's a.
Speaker 10 (25:01):
Combination of like Philip Rivers, just good old boy country cool.
What you see is what you get, but he's also
really funny. Nothing will change about him and his personalities.
He makes more money and has more success. He's one
of those guys.
Speaker 9 (25:15):
Like Sam that just is not going to be any
different than he always was.
Speaker 10 (25:19):
And it's well documented his older brothers holding him accountable
and keeping him humble, but physically he's this new era
of quarterback. I know there's been a lot of Josh
Allen comparisons, and I'm not comparing them. They have different resumes.
But what he did in his second year, Josh did
in his third. You know that jump Josh as it
(25:39):
was that third year, and I think there's a couple
of the same ingredients.
Speaker 9 (25:43):
One just to say the name of the person, Stefan Diggs.
Speaker 10 (25:47):
I think a guy that can create separation, that has
some savviiness to him and as a veteran. That was
the same in Josh's year three, and it was the
same in Drake's year two. A coordinator who knows what
the quarterback struggles with, so they don't call that a
whole lot, they don't ask him to do that a
whole lot with young guys. A lot of times that's
just full field progressions and then knowing what the strong
(26:09):
suit is, which is concepts where hey, if you get
to number three, they're not there already, be leaving the
pocket and scheming guys open. Another thing is Dawson Knox
was really good before Dalton Kinka got there. For Josh
Allen having a tight end who's always going to be
in the right spot at the right time and is rangey,
and they have that in Hunter Henry Ye in a
run game to compliment. And then the coordinator, you know,
(26:31):
Brian Gaebele for Josh and year three, Josh McDaniel's your
two here. So I think there's a lot of commonalities
and both. The last thing I'd say is, you know,
because of it's a defensive head coach. In both of
those situations, you're not asking you to be the team
leader as the young guy. Just just be the quarterbacks.
Just focus on that.
Speaker 9 (26:51):
You don't need to be the vocal leader on the team.
You can grow into that.
Speaker 10 (26:55):
So I see a lot of the similarities and and
and Drake is kind of one of those guys who's
been ready for the moment.
Speaker 9 (27:02):
And I thought this was always a win, not an
if with Drake.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
May I want to end it with this, it's important.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Fernando Mendos, I don't know what his comp is, but
there was something about his gratitude and his humility. He's
obviously a plus size. I watched them at Penn State,
Miami game, Iowa game. In big moments, he really leaned in.
You know, he wasn't overwhelmed in big moments, pressure, big throws.
(27:30):
What I'm interested in your evaluation. You probably haven't gone
a mile deep yet. But what when you look at
Fernando Mendoza, do you see another quarterback or do you
just see a talented kid.
Speaker 9 (27:42):
No. I think he's a franchise guy. I think he's
been a lot of success for early too.
Speaker 10 (27:45):
I'm not comparing these guys because somebody might hear this
and go like, oh, you know, whatever they think, But really,
Alex Smith, I don't know what Alex Smith's forty time was,
but I know he could run and he would take
advantage of whatever it was there in front of him.
High processor those things. So I don't like comps. So
that's not a comp but it's in terms of the
mobility I think it is. And you know, Alex Smith
(28:07):
was the number one pick in the draft. But I
think you know, I've been around Fernando a lot, and
really the early days of CAL and a lot of
times he had to run around and make plays for
that offense to be able to win. And he had
a couple of big wins. I remember specifically almost beating
Florida State and he had like some bad calls I think,
(28:28):
and maybe a drop, but he made They lost the game.
Speaker 9 (28:31):
At Florida State. CAL at Florida State, he.
Speaker 10 (28:34):
Lost that game, but made like four or five plays
at the end where like he made the play, something
else happened.
Speaker 9 (28:41):
But I could see a lot of this at CAL
with him.
Speaker 10 (28:44):
And then this is just right place, right time, one
of the better stories ever in college football. But I
don't I don't know what his numbers are and all that,
but the percentage of times that he made the clutch
play when it was needed is really really high. And
then if you look at his interviews, you know, the
internet in the comment section has a lot of different
(29:05):
opinions on it. But like I've told him, like I
told his dad, and the thing that cannot change about
him is this guy is so pure.
Speaker 9 (29:13):
He is just so who he is and so comfortable
in who he is. And we've talked on and off
camera about this over the years.
Speaker 10 (29:19):
Colin I mean a lot of these guys are chameleons
and they try and fit into the situation that.
Speaker 9 (29:24):
They're in, and I never see that work.
Speaker 10 (29:27):
I think this guy is perfect for what they're trying
to do in Vegas and whatever role Brady plays in
that this is the perfect kind of quarterback to have.
Speaker 9 (29:37):
Kind of under the washful eye of Tom Brady, the.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Founder of Quarterback Summit, also the founder of Thread performance
and nutrition company that exists to help young athletes fulfill
their physical and mental potential both on and off the field,
gives us insight. Sam Donald, I think you said red
hair buck teeth. It worked out well for Sam Donald.
Jordan has always great.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
Yeah, thanks for having me, you bet.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, it's interesting about the chameleon part. There is you know,
you notice this that Jordan went back early days, Mendoza
early days, Drake May early days, Sam Donald. That Jordan
sees these guys and hears about him when they're thirteen,
fourteen years old, And I mean, I think that's that's
(30:25):
I mean, like his parents, you know, you're you're there
to support your kid. But by and large, the great
ones twelve, thirteen years old, fourteen years old, you can
see it. You can see it at camp, you can
see it somewhere around other kids.
Speaker 6 (30:39):
That's early man.
Speaker 7 (30:40):
Thirteen fourteen, Well, that's when he saw Sam Donald and go.
You know, you don't expect them to continue on that track.
A lot of the young prodigies go sideways, as we've
seen throughout the years.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Basketball, well, well, I think Donald was a prodigy or
Drake May.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
But Josh McCown's like, I got this sixteen year old
kid before any of us had heard about it. He's
like this, this sophomore in high school. Keep your eye
on this kid.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
And you're right. A lot of them, most of them
don't work.
Speaker 7 (31:08):
A five star kid, it's tough to handle that man,
the pressure Joe Lombardi could, He's got
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 Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
One of the things I always look at with a
veteran NFL player, has he ever been a team captain?
That tells you a lot about the guy. Cam Hayward
has been a team captain for the Steelers for eleven years.
He's going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer,
six time All Pro, fifteen years, same team, and he
is joining us at the Super Bowl. You know it's
(00:48):
I asked you fair, I said, fifteen years in the league.
What do you feel like when you wake up in
the morning and tell the audience what your answer was?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
It feels like fifteen years of past.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
You know, you you have Mike Tomlin's interesting because Emmanuel Sanders,
I think it was, was on my show a couple
of weeks ago and he said, you can talk about
the coach. He goes, Mike Tomlin changed me the guy
like what to do with my money? When I came
into the league, I was kind of I didn't know anything,
And you had a fifteen year relationship with Mike. Now
(01:25):
it's not all good. I mean, it can't be. There's
got to be disagreements. But tell me about Mike the
guy that I don't see.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Mike is very approachable and voicing like anything to him.
He might not agree with you, and he might have
a different way of seeing it, but he makes himself
available to discuss your problems. He's able to, you know,
cut past a lot of the crap and say like, yeah,
that's great, but we're going to go in a different direction,
(01:56):
or this is what we have to do. Forward have
to put the team first. The one thing I loved
about Mike was just his honesty to the game, understanding
that there are initial cuts in our league in preparing
the right one.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I've seen him on two
interviews since he coached the Steelers, and he's so happy
and funny, and I'm like, the NFL has a way
of making people, you know. I mean, you watch Belichick
when he left New England. I watched him on the ESPN.
He's cracking jokes, he's having a good time. There is
an argument, and I said this, I can think Mike's
(02:32):
a Hall of Famer, but I do think coaches have
a lifespan.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
In a room.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Is there not an argument, like, listen, when you spend
that much time with one team, maybe it was better
for Mike to take a deep breath in some time off.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Is that fair?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Well, it's definitely fair. I think the first part of
what you said. He's definitely got the glow of going
into an offseason not having the pressure in the weight
of having a team to prepare for. But he also
gets to, you know, spend some time with his family.
I think I was just texting one this morning's talking
about his daughter killing it a Georgia and gymnastics. But
(03:11):
as much as there can't be a long shelf life,
I don't think we provide coaches enough time to actually
find out if they were a good coach or Now.
There's a lot of hit or miss, and you know,
after a year or two, it's, hey, we got to
bounce you because we really want to try out something new.
What Mike has been able to accomplish, I know he
only has one Super Bowl, but it's a lot more
than what any other coach can say, and he's the
(03:33):
cream of the crop. I think every year you're always
going to wonder is Mike Tomlin coming out of retirement
because he was just that good of a coach.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So Seattle, New England rare position. You guys really beat up.
Drake Maya had multiple sacks, He really struggled, probably his
worst game. Seattle came out in the second half and
took it to you. So there's a lot of similarities
between the two. I think the weakness of both the
Seahawks Patriots probably the old line is not great. And
(04:02):
I do think both are young, good mobile quarterbacks, defensive coaches.
There's talent all over the field, especially on the defensive side.
Let's first talk about Seattle. When you guys played them,
it was kind of an eye opening result. We all
kind of went, oh, oh, wait a minute, this darnold
thing may work. When that game was over, what was
(04:24):
your interpretation of Seattle.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I thought they played through emotions. You know, they can
actually bounce back from situations that were a little bit
catastrophic in our game early and then really capitalized on
us in the second half. I know we had a
big turnover at half in our game, but you know
they were able to, you know, keep drives alive even
(04:47):
when I think we had a big play. I think
I tipped the ball and then Nick Herbig picked it off.
They were able to bounce back from that. And you
know their defense is really good. You got Lerner Williams,
you got Byron Young upfront, and if they have a
good game, usually they're winning the game.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Now, New England was different.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
They had a lot of new faces, free agents, five
rookies playing, and to be honest with you, it unraveled.
It felt like they got a little I mean that's
what my interpretation watching it was. Cam you got into
their head. You kind of intimidated them. You made Drake
May play faster than he was comfortable playing. So I imagine
you came out of that game and you're are you
(05:27):
surprised today they're in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I think it's indicative that you talk about how they
started and then where they finished, because when they first
got into the league this year, there were a lot
of questions about Drake May and you just watched their
team battle back and become just a better unit on
both sides of the ball. You've got Milton Williams and
you've got Christian Barmol, who dealt with a lot of
injuries last year. Yeah, but then this year just a
(05:52):
different player. And I think having those two Stalworths and
the d line are great, but Drake May is playing
at another level. When we played them the first time,
our big thing was we got to get turnovers from
Drake May and their running backs, and they've really stabilized
that in having Travion as a running back and Drake
May throwing the ball downfield.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
So Mike McCarthy is the new head coach. I had
said on the air, I think he's the offensive Mike Tomlin.
And immediately he's already made upgrades to the staff, or
at least upgrades in his opinion to the staff. And
I've criticized Pittsburgh through the years. I've said, listen, the
rules now favor offense. That you got to be able
(06:31):
to consistently run the ball. That's the reality of this league,
and Pittsburgh for seven years has struggled to identify a
consistent run game.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
That's not a criticism, that's data.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I do think Mike makes you a little more current offensively,
What are your expectations.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
I think you look at what our offense was this
year and you say you have one to two punch
in the running game between Kenneth Gamewell and Jala. Yep,
they've done a really good job and I thought it
was a step up from last year. I look for
that office to just keep growing. You look for Jalen
Warren and Kenth Gamwell to have more touches, and you
(07:11):
look for DK Metcat to have a lot more in
his routtree, a lot more favorable matchups where he's not
just stuck on a number one corner. Let's mix it around.
Let's give him the ball in space. Because when he
has the ball in space, if you look at that
Ireland game where they have the clip of Aaron throwing
DK the ball, one of the prettiest balls you ever see,
(07:32):
and him taking it eighty yards, that's what you want
DK doing.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Were you Aaron's an American iconic star. Pittsburgh is a
hard working, no nonsense town. He appeared to really enjoy Pittsburgh.
Like from the outside, I'm like, oh, Aaron fitz here fight.
I didn't know if you would take me through the
year of Aaron and Pittsburgh and just the camaraderie, the
locker room, the trips.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
How was it for you?
Speaker 3 (08:00):
The camaraderie, the accountability, and just the playmaking. He's special
and I don't think you get enough. He gets enough
credit as a teammate, the way he prepares, the way
the group kind of rallies around him. We have a
lot more fun with him that I can't talk about
on air. But he is a great guy for the
(08:21):
locker room. But he's also a big Nickelback fan. Shout
out Aaron. No, I'm just kidding. He hates Nickelback, but
we But you know, throughout the year, I thought he
was always locked in giving us the best chance to
go forward, and that's what you want from your quarterback.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern nin am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 5 (08:48):
APPT got here. I have a podcast empire. It continues
to grow, and I have brought it here to iHeart.
I'm also doing a live radio show from three to
five pm Eastern because my wife wanted to kick me
out of the house. It's called Stegtson Company Live, which
is available in podcast form right when the show finishes
(09:09):
every single day. Some of the biggest names in sports,
a lot of phone.
Speaker 6 (09:15):
Calls, I love you got your show.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
It's one of my favorites.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
A lot of interact shit guys not taking themselves too seriously.
Those are just some of the things that you could
expect from Stu Gottson Company and Steve Gotson Company Live.
So listen to Steve Gotson Company Live and our original podcast.
Please subscribe, rate and review Stu Gotson Company, and God
Bless Football. Taylor's livelihood depends on it. You do it
(09:39):
today and you can check all of those out on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
You could call it a career and you're a Hall
of famer. What drives you at this point?
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Uh One, I think is trying to win a Super Bowl,
having the opportunity to compete. You know, that's why you
play this game too. I think it's just installing my legacy. Further,
I feel like I still have more work to do
on the field, off the field, and then, you know,
continue to teach the younger guys, continue to learn from
(10:20):
them and continue to just keep growing.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
You are working with the American Cancer Society. You've always
been a charitable guy.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Tell me about it.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, I had a chance to, you know, come on
and be a co captain again with the American Cancer Society.
You know, cancer is pretty prevalent in my family with
my dad suffering from a brain tumor. And I've just
been very close because I've had grandparents or you know,
aunts and uncles that have done with breast cancer as well,
(10:52):
and so be able to spearhead and you know, find
other ways where we get other people to donate and
you know, find a good charts to be able to
save a lot of people's lives and help a lot
of people along the way.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Cam You're a credit to the game and I appreciate
you stopping by the herd.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
You bet a great, great player. I mean when you're
when you're a captain eleven times in your career, that
really speaks volumes of you as a guy. J Maack
with the News.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Turn on the news, this is the headline news.
Speaker 6 (11:27):
Let's continue Super Bowl coverage.
Speaker 7 (11:28):
Talking about Mike McDonald served under John Harbaugh in Baltimore
and McDonald talked about how Harball had an impact on
him as a head coach.
Speaker 6 (11:39):
I don't think it's.
Speaker 8 (11:40):
Possible to overstate his influence influence on me. I love
John Harbaugh.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
He's a.
Speaker 8 (11:46):
He's my one of my biggest mentors. All those principles
that are part of his program that he's about as
a person resonated with me, and uh, those are a
lot of the foundational principles that we that we brought
to Seattle.
Speaker 9 (11:59):
And he's also he's a great friend. He's got a
great family. So I can't say how much I love him.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Boy McDonald has been a hit, hasn't he.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I mean he took that defense from Pete, moved it
up about ten spots, and then he moved it up
to number one or two in the league. And when
you get a really good defensive coach, like obviously Mike
McDaniel goes to Miami and they got all sorts of
motion and different sets, you can see it. Like defensively,
it's harder to see, Oh, that coach has principles. But
(12:30):
when you watch how hard Seattle plays, that's the first
thing I look at. They play hard. The second thing
is they don't give up cheap touchdowns. That was always
the great strength of Belichick. To score on New England,
you had to drive the ball. They didn't give up freebats.
They didn't miss assignments. Seattle doesn't miss a lot of assignments.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
Excellent team. He's had a great two year run. Look
on the screen.
Speaker 7 (12:53):
There twenty four wins over the last two seasons, only
behind McDermott and Sirianni.
Speaker 6 (12:59):
Like, that's pretty impressive for McDonald. I am curious. It's
tough to ask this, colin.
Speaker 7 (13:05):
Do you think there's a lot of wiggle room here
for them to keep going and improve and be at
twelve to thirteen fourteen win team member they lose their
o C Koubiak, he's gonna go coach.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
So I think where they're at, you know, Plateau gets
kind of a bad rap. I think Seattle is going
to be a double digit win team if John Snyder,
Mike McDonald and Sam Donald are together. Boo, I think
they're a double But you and I know San Francisco
and the Rams are a handful. So Donald gets banged
(13:35):
up and misses a month. So a lot of it
comes down to is the quarterback. Charles crossed the left tackle,
Gray's abels, the left side of the offensive line held.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
So they are really deep. They have no real holes.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Their online gets a bad rap the left side of
it's pretty good to me, So I don't know, I
look at them. That's the thing I feel like with
Minnesota firing their GM. It's not just that Sam was
good this year. You can see the runway for Seattle
and you're like, oh, this is gonna be a topic
for two three years. We don't know beyond that. But
(14:10):
Donald's got two more years left on his deal and
the cap hit remains incredibly Seahawk friendly. So and John
Snyder again, Now, but what's interesting, Jason, Now you're drafting
at the end of rounds. That's a hard to go
ask Kansas City and Buffalo. It gets real lean a.
Speaker 7 (14:30):
Year ago though, we were saying Eagles, oh my god,
best roster in the league.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
They won with defense.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
We didn't like their coach though.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
Well that's the thing.
Speaker 7 (14:38):
We'll see what who they replaced Kubek with offensively after
the super Bowl.
Speaker 6 (14:41):
That'll be interesting because Darnold has had a money damn good.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Year and that's a good job. Now, yes, that's a
really good job.
Speaker 6 (14:46):
All right, let's move on.
Speaker 7 (14:47):
To the NBA Colin Trained deadline is Thursday at three o'clock.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
How about this.
Speaker 7 (14:52):
Reports indicate that the Clippers and Cavaliers are looking toward
a deal centering around James Harden and Darius Garland. Now,
I wish you could channel the energy you had when
I asked you about James.
Speaker 6 (15:04):
Harden off air.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
I'd love to see him go to Cleveland.
Speaker 7 (15:08):
Yeay, so he's thirty six years old. Garland is only
twenty six. On the surface, it feels like a weird swap.
Cleveland clearly is in the luxury tax and they're not
like a top three team in the East, so they
don't really want to pay it.
Speaker 6 (15:19):
So I think they're looking to lessen the tax burden.
But let's be real. James Harden is a Hall of Famer,
one of the great Scores, is not.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
A winning player.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Everybody kept getting I mean, Darryl Morey just kept giving
him guys and different coaches and different teammates into the.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
Superstar Warriors with Durant and Curry.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
They're not give him Westbrook and Houston give him Chris
Paul and they gave him. I mean, this guy got
more great teammates and solid coaches and everybody else is
to blame.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
So what you said, you're not Harden?
Speaker 3 (15:51):
No?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I mean he'll make the Hall of Fame, but there's
a lot of guys in the Hall that aren't winning
players led the league in scoring.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
Oh wow, how what are you doing the defensive end?
Speaker 7 (15:58):
He was basically Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan got Phil
Collins College.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
No, he was Phil Jackson. Michael Jordan was about winning.
Michael Jordan was not early, not early. Well, he was
a great defensive player.
Speaker 6 (16:10):
He was Harden does not play much defense.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
James Harden is known for the step back in nightclubs.
You am I wrong?
Speaker 6 (16:18):
Cold blooded? Am I wrong? You're not wrong?
Speaker 7 (16:20):
Final story con How about this? This just happened within
the last thirty minutes. Big trade in the NBA. The
Memphis Grizzlies, who have been trying to move John Morant,
instead move Jaren Jackson, their other best player, in a
massive trade.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
He goes to the Utah Jazz.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
The Jazz, I guess with Dwayne Wade and company are
ready to finally try to compete. The Jazz now have
Jaron Jackson, They've got Lori Markinen well, I thought they
would try to score Keyante Georgia, promising young player and
Walker Kessler.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
No, they're going to be a good defensive team. They're
gonna be huge on the front line.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Yep.
Speaker 7 (16:53):
The problem and this is what's so tough. The West
is loaded. So even with this Utah changes, are they
a top six even in the West.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
I'm hearing this for the first time, but Jaron Jackson's
a good player. He's very good, very good players. So
now Utah has four very good players.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Right.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
That feels like a playoff team.
Speaker 6 (17:13):
Yeah, Lakers are gonna have to do something because I
think the Lakers are not doing.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Utah is better.
Speaker 6 (17:19):
They have more better players than the Lakers right now.
They do not high end like Lucas better than everybody.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
And their best players occasionally like to defend too. So this,
this JAD team could be a problem. I don't know
about this year.
Speaker 7 (17:33):
Memphis got three first round picks and players, including Walsas.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
But that's because Utah doesn't need those picks now, right,
And these picks are going to be Utah four really
good players.
Speaker 6 (17:45):
Yeah, NBA is getting it and this is what I love.
Speaker 7 (17:49):
Everybody says, Oh, well, these trades that they're talking about
Giannis and these certain teams, it never works like this.
Just trade, by the way, was not speculated. Nobody had
the Utah Jazz being buyers of Jared Jackson. So remember
Damian Lillard when he was getting traded, Oh it's the
Miami Heat, maybe Toronto.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
Nobody had him going to the Bucks. Giannis is going
to a team that nobody's talking about now Utah.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Utah is not Now.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
First of all, Utah is a not a very good
defensive team, as I make fun of the Lakers.
Speaker 7 (18:16):
They're not, but they will be with Jackson and Kessler
on the back line.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, they're they're not a factor now, but they're also young,
so this gives them. Yeah, I like now years Jared
Jackson been in the lad like.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
Twenty seven, twenty six, twenty seven years ago. Yeah, he's young.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
They've got four guys that you you know, Laurie Marken
has always talked about being traded, but he gives you
a young player, man, dude, he gives.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
You like twenty what does he have for twenty three
to night twenty four nine?
Speaker 6 (18:40):
Yeah, something like that.
Speaker 7 (18:41):
And also, by the way, they have young Ace Bailey
who's coming up? He is, he's got potential. Oh no,
he's got talent.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Yeah, yeah, they give it a couple of years. I
like the trade for Utah. We'll see what's going on
in Memphis.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
J McK of the news, Well, that's the news, and
thanks for stopping by the line News.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Sam Darnald the early years.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Next, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
Weekdays and Noone Easter non a em Pacific.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Well, he's the founder of Quarterback Summit, a program that
helps quarterbacks reach their potential. Played in the NFL for
six years, the Bengals, the Jags, the Bears, the Titans,
and and love Chicago as much as I do now.
His name is Jordan Palmer, quarterback consultant in joining us.
Also founded Thread Performance Nutrition and company that helps young athletes.
(19:33):
So you've worked with Darnald since like high school, and
I remember at USC I think it was Sark if
I recall he was a freshman and Sark said to me,
he goes this kid from Oceanside. He goes, he's really good.
He's got to clean up some stuff. So go back
to the very early Sam Darnald days. What was obvious
(19:55):
what needed work back then.
Speaker 10 (19:59):
Well, I mean I at him when he was fourteen,
and honestly, he was a redheaded, freckled kind of had
buck teeth, and I was throwing with my old high
school coach. I was playing at the time, and I
was but the high school coach. I was thrown with
coach Carson and I when we were little, So I
was joking around. I'm like, hey, that little redhead kid
looks dead on Carson Palmer when he was that age,
and we were laughing about it.
Speaker 9 (20:19):
Fast forward two years and he's.
Speaker 10 (20:20):
In the Elite eleven and that was when I was like, oh,
that kid ended up being good. But really he redshirted
his first year at SC and his second year's red shirt.
Freshman year, he was in a quarterback competition with Max Brown,
who does a great job with media right now, is
a great dude. And Max was a grad senior he
could transfer if he didn't win the job. It was
(20:41):
Clay Helton was the head coach at the time, and honestly,
Sam out performed him. But they opened up week one
at Jerry's World versus Bama. So if they would have
started Sam week one, Max would have transferred and they
would have had a red shirt freshman starter. I think
they had a true freshman backup on a walk on
behind him. So Sam didn't win the job, and I
(21:01):
remember him calling me right after he got the news
and being really upset and talking about it. I remember
that conversation about this is a rep and this is
your first time having to stay ready.
Speaker 9 (21:11):
When you read shirt, you don't have to stay ready.
And they struggle. I think they went one three and.
Speaker 10 (21:15):
When they pulled the trigger on Sam, you know, he
rattled off eight or nine straight Rose Bowl MVP beat Penn,
stayed on fourth down and kind of became Sam Darnold.
Speaker 9 (21:24):
The Suck for Sam campaign started on the internet.
Speaker 10 (21:27):
And watching him handle that and grow through that and
channel the frustration and not being named the starter but
being ready, I think really laid the groundwork for a
lot of these difficult situations that he's been in the
last decade and how well he's handled him.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
When a guy, now Sam has had back to back
MVP level years. If Sam called you, Jordan has said, hey,
hey can I can I come down for a couple
of days?
Speaker 4 (21:53):
What do you work on? Once a player's at a
high level, that's a great question.
Speaker 9 (21:59):
I mean it's different.
Speaker 10 (22:01):
Sam is Sam Burrow and a lot of college guys
are in this program. I operate in the space differently
than anybody else, and that everybody's on retainer for the year.
So with Sam and all my clients, it's broken into quarterly.
Phase one is whenever you start until spring. Phase two
is spring ball or OTAs in the NFL. Phase three
(22:22):
is your best opportunity for growth that's coming out of
spring or OTAs and going into summer. And then phase
four is the season. So in my office, I've got
a golf simulator. This is essentially a content studio, and
we break down practice and games and curate things on
a weekly basis. So I for the last whatever twenty
weeks or how many games he's played this year, we're
pulling things from games and sometimes mirroring and dropping it
(22:44):
into his folder. So he likes to, I think Tuesday
nights watch these and essentially kind of you almost outsource
your mechanics and which is becoming more normal, and so
we're curating things that started on a basketball court in February.
We typically go four to six weeks with him with
no football, and for five years he's been learning a
new offense, which means new footwork.
Speaker 9 (23:06):
So we curate that in phase one, we see what sticks.
Speaker 10 (23:09):
In phase two, which is OTAs address things that didn't stick,
build the off season programming for phase three, and then
in season it's about maintaining it and every now and
then introducing.
Speaker 9 (23:19):
A new idea. And so an example of this was
last year in Minnesota.
Speaker 10 (23:23):
He's five to zero on by week and he's sitting
on my couch right here, and we ran the numbers
and determined that the largest grouping of misses that he
had was outbreaking routes to the right, and it was
twenty four point six percent, I believe. And so we
addressed the mechanical issue, what he was doing mechanically and
what he was doing from an alignment perspective that was
causing those misses.
Speaker 9 (23:43):
One hundred percent of those misses were a little bit
behind the guy. Zero of them were out in front.
Speaker 10 (23:48):
So we gave him things to do around his house,
a golf club between his arms moving seeing that golf
club come into your peripheral vision, turned into tape on
the left shoulder pad building that peripheral vision, and it
was all around front side alignment drawing that shoulder closed.
Since then, he has not missed one to his right
behind the guy we're able to kind of press delete
(24:10):
on the future twenty four point six percent of your
misses in a contract year.
Speaker 9 (24:14):
On the Super Bowl run.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
So Drake may more of an East Coast guy.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
You didn't have the West Coast connection to him initially,
when I feel like not that he's a work in progress.
I think he's a better quarterback than he was in September.
But like when you see him just TV, what jumps
out to you that you like about Drake may.
Speaker 10 (24:36):
Well, I mean, I like everything about Drake may I
remember Josh McCown, I backed him up in Chicago, who
was done playing, figuring out his next move, and was
telling me about this high school kid because he volunteered
coached in high school and he coached Drake May's team.
And then I saw Drake may at the Elite eleven,
so I'd been hearing about him. But I like everything,
(24:58):
And I know that's a bad answer.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Wise, he's a.
Speaker 10 (25:01):
Combination of like Philip Rivers, just good old boy country cool.
What you see is what you get, but he's also
really funny. Nothing will change about him and his personalities.
He makes more money and has more success. He's one
of those guys.
Speaker 9 (25:15):
Like Sam that just is not going to be any
different than he always was.
Speaker 10 (25:19):
And it's well documented his older brothers holding him accountable
and keeping him humble, but physically he's this new era
of quarterback. I know there's been a lot of Josh
Allen comparisons, and I'm not comparing them. They have different resumes.
But what he did in his second year, Josh did
in his third. You know that jump Josh as it
(25:39):
was that third year, and I think there's a couple
of the same ingredients.
Speaker 9 (25:43):
One just to say the name of the person, Stefan Diggs.
Speaker 10 (25:47):
I think a guy that can create separation, that has
some savviiness to him and as a veteran. That was
the same in Josh's year three, and it was the
same in Drake's year two. A coordinator who knows what
the quarterback struggles with, so they don't call that a
whole lot, they don't ask him to do that a
whole lot with young guys. A lot of times that's
just full field progressions and then knowing what the strong
(26:09):
suit is, which is concepts where hey, if you get
to number three, they're not there already, be leaving the
pocket and scheming guys open. Another thing is Dawson Knox
was really good before Dalton Kinka got there. For Josh
Allen having a tight end who's always going to be
in the right spot at the right time and is rangey,
and they have that in Hunter Henry Ye in a
run game to compliment. And then the coordinator, you know,
(26:31):
Brian Gaebele for Josh and year three, Josh McDaniel's your
two here. So I think there's a lot of commonalities
and both. The last thing I'd say is, you know,
because of it's a defensive head coach. In both of
those situations, you're not asking you to be the team
leader as the young guy. Just just be the quarterbacks.
Just focus on that.
Speaker 9 (26:51):
You don't need to be the vocal leader on the team.
You can grow into that.
Speaker 10 (26:55):
So I see a lot of the similarities and and
and Drake is kind of one of those guys who's
been ready for the moment.
Speaker 9 (27:02):
And I thought this was always a win, not an
if with Drake.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
May I want to end it with this, it's important.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Fernando Mendos, I don't know what his comp is, but
there was something about his gratitude and his humility. He's
obviously a plus size. I watched them at Penn State,
Miami game, Iowa game. In big moments, he really leaned in.
You know, he wasn't overwhelmed in big moments, pressure, big throws.
(27:30):
What I'm interested in your evaluation. You probably haven't gone
a mile deep yet. But what when you look at
Fernando Mendoza, do you see another quarterback or do you
just see a talented kid.
Speaker 9 (27:42):
No. I think he's a franchise guy. I think he's
been a lot of success for early too.
Speaker 10 (27:45):
I'm not comparing these guys because somebody might hear this
and go like, oh, you know, whatever they think, But really,
Alex Smith, I don't know what Alex Smith's forty time was,
but I know he could run and he would take
advantage of whatever it was there in front of him.
High processor those things. So I don't like comps. So
that's not a comp but it's in terms of the
mobility I think it is. And you know, Alex Smith
(28:07):
was the number one pick in the draft. But I
think you know, I've been around Fernando a lot, and
really the early days of CAL and a lot of
times he had to run around and make plays for
that offense to be able to win. And he had
a couple of big wins. I remember specifically almost beating
Florida State and he had like some bad calls I think,
(28:28):
and maybe a drop, but he made They lost the game.
Speaker 9 (28:31):
At Florida State. CAL at Florida State, he.
Speaker 10 (28:34):
Lost that game, but made like four or five plays
at the end where like he made the play, something
else happened.
Speaker 9 (28:41):
But I could see a lot of this at CAL
with him.
Speaker 10 (28:44):
And then this is just right place, right time, one
of the better stories ever in college football. But I
don't I don't know what his numbers are and all that,
but the percentage of times that he made the clutch
play when it was needed is really really high. And
then if you look at his interviews, you know, the
internet in the comment section has a lot of different
(29:05):
opinions on it. But like I've told him, like I
told his dad, and the thing that cannot change about
him is this guy is so pure.
Speaker 9 (29:13):
He is just so who he is and so comfortable
in who he is. And we've talked on and off
camera about this over the years.
Speaker 10 (29:19):
Colin I mean a lot of these guys are chameleons
and they try and fit into the situation that.
Speaker 9 (29:24):
They're in, and I never see that work.
Speaker 10 (29:27):
I think this guy is perfect for what they're trying
to do in Vegas and whatever role Brady plays in
that this is the perfect kind of quarterback to have.
Speaker 9 (29:37):
Kind of under the washful eye of Tom Brady, the.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Founder of Quarterback Summit, also the founder of Thread performance
and nutrition company that exists to help young athletes fulfill
their physical and mental potential both on and off the field,
gives us insight. Sam Donald, I think you said red
hair buck teeth. It worked out well for Sam Donald.
Jordan has always great.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
Yeah, thanks for having me, you bet.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, it's interesting about the chameleon part. There is you know,
you notice this that Jordan went back early days, Mendoza
early days, Drake May early days, Sam Donald. That Jordan
sees these guys and hears about him when they're thirteen,
fourteen years old, And I mean, I think that's that's
(30:25):
I mean, like his parents, you know, you're you're there
to support your kid. But by and large, the great
ones twelve, thirteen years old, fourteen years old, you can
see it. You can see it at camp, you can
see it somewhere around other kids.
Speaker 6 (30:39):
That's early man.
Speaker 7 (30:40):
Thirteen fourteen, Well, that's when he saw Sam Donald and go.
You know, you don't expect them to continue on that track.
A lot of the young prodigies go sideways, as we've
seen throughout the years.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Basketball, well, well, I think Donald was a prodigy or
Drake May.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
But Josh McCown's like, I got this sixteen year old
kid before any of us had heard about it. He's
like this, this sophomore in high school. Keep your eye
on this kid.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
And you're right. A lot of them, most of them
don't work.
Speaker 7 (31:08):
A five star kid, it's tough to handle that man,
the pressure Joe Lombardi could, He's got
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Colin Cowherd
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