May 10, 2021 • 40 mins
Where Colin was right and wrong
More on Aaron Rodgers possibly leaving Green Bay for Denver
Guests: Davante Adams, Mark Schlereth
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports
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(00:27):
wherever you may be and however you may be listening iHeartRadio,
Fox Sports Radio FS one. Alex Curry is joining me.
Joey Taylor off today. By the way, I thought it
was interesting. Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live and some
of the Royal writers protested they don't like him, blah
blah blah, and he's different. I mean, he's not for everybody,
(00:48):
but it's interesting. If I was a comedy writer, and
this is where politics has gone in this country, if
I was a comedy writer, it's easier to do jokes
for people with big personalities. Donald Trump's easy to write
jokes about Elon Musk, is easy to write jokes about
Bill Gates, where you know, the richest guy in the
world getting divorced. Now you can write a lot of jokes.
(01:10):
I don't understand when comedy writers go, oh, I do
the show because I don't like or Elon Musk stands.
Do you want good topics to write jokes? Isn't that
the whole part of like, if I was a comedy writer,
you you're looking for somebody to mock or make fun
of her poke. It's hard when if you look at
nobody ever does an impersonation of Gerald Ford, the former president.
(01:33):
He was boring. You can do a Reagan, you can
do it George Bush. You know, people have done great
impersonations of Obama, the bigger the personality Trump. It's hard
to do a lot of jokes on George Bush Senior
or impersonations of Gerald Ford. Elon Musk is the classic odd.
(01:54):
He's not a great speaker. If you've watched any of
his like live speeches. He's done her presentations before this.
I kind of knew going in. I was a little nervous.
I was because I know how awkward he can be.
But he was trending the whole week. Yes, they were
the top news story. They were trending on Twitter. Every
news outlet was talking about it. I want, I want
dysfunctional people. If I'm a comin writer, the more dysfunctional
(02:17):
and different than awkward. It was so awkward awkward people. Yeah,
Christopher Watkins been on that show. He's a little different. Yeah,
he's great on Saturday Night Live Alec Baldwin and his
fiery temper. He's great there. Anytime you can poke people
in the vanilla, personalities are hard to right. Jokes about.
He was willing to do it. He was ready for it,
all right, Colin Wright, Colin wrong. Brought to you by
(02:39):
Jersey Mikes. Listen, good things come to those who wait
at Jersey Mike's. They come to those who don't download
the app. Cut the line, skippet order ahead now through
May twenty third, used the herd the code heard for
one buck off your order. Colin right, Colin wrong. Where
Colin was right, I've acknowledged for years, ten years. Aaron
Rodgers is great, but he's really petty and hard to
(03:00):
get along with. Well. Story came out this weekend from
a former teammate and executive that said, Aaron's an intelligent, trolling,
petting mother blanker. He's gonna make you look stupid for
disrespecting him. Set another why are you getting blindsided. I'm
not saying Aaron's evil, but this is like his criminal
mastermind plan set. An executive put it this way, they'd
(03:23):
have to fire everybody he's dug in, that's who he is.
They'd have to make him the freaking owner of the team.
That's the sense I get. He just wants control again.
These are people who have worked with him and been
with him and been teammates with him. Aaron is difficult
and prickly and condescending. And when I write my last
and third book, I'll write an Aaron Rodgers story that
(03:44):
I've never told. He's a lot to deal with. That's
all I've ever said, and get remarkable pushback. When I
started ten years ago saying it for the record, I
get a lot less now. Where Colin was right always
said the second chapter. If you're write the book on
Lebron is durability. The first chapter, he's amazing. Now he's
(04:04):
not very durable. Three injuries in two years. He came
back last week. High ankle sprain was the injury. He
reinjured it almost immediately. The Lakers have sort of devolved
into a playing game team to make the playoffs, Lebron's
had to me kind of a bitter year where he
usually gets one hundred twenty days off after a title
(04:27):
or a championship roun this year he got seventy. He
was anti All Star game, anti playing game, anti starting
the season in December, and let's just be honest. Now,
not only have we seen the best of Lebron, we've
probably seen the last of him playing engage for a
full regular season. Where Colin was right. Never understood the
(04:49):
disrespect for Steph Curry. Maybe it's the nerdy shoes he wears,
or he didn't have the alpha players want, But he
scored forty nine points in three quarters Saturday. He's going
to win the scoring Championship. And oh, by the way,
he is single handedly putting it an odd fitting Warriors
team in the playoffs. They're currently the eight seed. He
(05:12):
is shooting since the All Star Break forty six percent
on threes and getting thirty seven points a game. By
the way Kad left him, Katie can't stay healthy and
is not even the most valuable Brooklyn net. This is
what Curry is all about. The great players in this
league can lead through dysfunction, through chaos. It's what Lebron's
(05:37):
done in Cleveland a couple of times. It's what Lebron
did when he came to the Lakers. There are a
lot of great players in this league. There are only
two or three that are in Steph Curry's class in
terms of valuable. Where Colin was wrong. Yeah, I started
the year saying the Dodgers had the chance to be
the best team since maybe the late nineties Yankees. They
(05:59):
start at thirteen and three. They're now in third place
in the National League West. They got beat by the
Angels this weekend. At one point, led fourteen nothing and
almost blew the lead. Dave Roberts has to at some
point be on the hot seat before the All Star Game.
Injuries are piling up, Cody Bellinger's not there yet, and
(06:19):
Dustin May is now out. The bullpen is a real concern.
They regularly leak runs late in games. Not a good weekend.
The Freeway Series didn't treat them well. Angels won two
of those. Where Colin was right. Nothing against Kirk Cousins,
but any time you throw a little shade at the
(06:40):
Vikings quarterback, their fans go nuts story came out this week.
They were fishing for a quarterback and strongly considered drafting
Justin Fields when he dropped. It's nothing against Kirk Cousins,
but he has an incredibly low ceiling. He's seven and
sixteen in primetime games and in a division with Aaron Rodgers.
(07:02):
He just doesn't get you to the next level. There's
a reason Stefon Diggs was constantly complaining. But man, there
is no fanbase that gets more sensitive when you criticize
their quarterback. He's very much Derek Carr, but in my opinion,
not as mobile. Therefore, he's got a low ceiling. The
(07:23):
Vikings acknowledging it were about ready to draft Justin Fields
where Colin was wrong. Well, I ripped him last week.
I gotta be fair about this. Anthony Davis dominated the
Sons this week and in a very important game for
the Lakers and scored forty two points. What do you
know he delivered in one of their biggest games of
the year. Listen, it's never been about talent for Anthony Davis.
(07:48):
It has always been about desire. That's why he reminds
me so much of Rashid Wallace, a great defensive player
from a you know, a Carolina Kentucky like program. I
am hard to stop elite defender. You have to beg
to get into the weight room and work on his body.
That's why his body never treats him well. But Big
(08:10):
game in Portland played pretty well. Big game against the Suns.
He absolutely dominated it and he deserves that credit. Where
Colin was right well, very early, even when they were
oh and seven. We kept saying with the Miami Dolphins,
I love the coach and I like the direction of
this team. Peter King and his column this Morning Football
Morning in America talked about Chris Greer twenty eight trades
(08:34):
in twenty eight months on the job. This is why
I like this team, and Greer had a great quote.
Football has evolved a lot of general managers are willing
to trade now. All we think is about getting better tomorrow.
This is a Miami team that everybody seems to like now,
But we said it when they started owen seven. Look
(08:57):
at their offseasons, look at their drafts. Really smart and
Chris Greer is one of these gms who keeps a
very low profile. You don't hear him talk, there are
no press conferences. He is really one of the sharp
cats in the NFL. Where Colin was right. Bradley Beale.
How long have I been saying Bradley Beale's the best
(09:20):
player with no marquee value in this league. He's got
to go to a winner. Well, he's one of the
favorite my guys, right, favorite he is now. The Wizards
are the hottest team in the league in the last month.
In the last two weeks, he's had three games over
forty points. He's going to finish number two in the
NBA and scoring. He had fifty points Saturday. It's a
(09:42):
bad franchise. But I'll tell you this, everybody at some
point has struggled to play with Westbrook because Russell kind
of has a distinct style. What do you know, Bradley
Beale with a past his I'm Westbrook. Over the course
of the season is able to play very well with
(10:06):
Westbrook in the same back court. It's not like he's
a big of forward. They're in the same backcourt. They're
playing very well together. And Beal remains the best player
in the NBA that you've probably never watched an entire
game of. And I'd love to see him in the playoffs.
(10:26):
I know Lebronze Camp huge fans, huge, huge fans of
Bradley Beale. They just can't make it work because he's
expensive and the Lakers don't have cap space. Some thoughts
on Robert Solo, the new Jets coach. He had an
interesting weekend, and Davante Adams is one of the two
or three most gifted wide receivers in the NFL. He's
(10:48):
a Green Bay Packer and he's going to be joining
us next one. More Herd. The Herd streams twenty four
hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app.
Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
We'll get ready for the biggest season ever with the
release of the twenty twenty one NFL schedule Wednesday at
eight pm Eastern on FS one and NFL Network, don't
(11:09):
miss the first look at the entire seventeen game regular season.
Plus Starting Wednesday, fans can purchase single game tickets at
NFL dot com slash tickets. I'm actually very interested in
the Cleveland brown schedule because it's got the Packers, it's
got the Chiefs, it's got the Patriots. It could fall
a bunch of different ways, so it's andy. The Browns
(11:32):
are really good, but they got potentially eight to nine
new defensive starters. So if the schedules brood in September
and early October, that's the difference between winning your division
and finishing second to an eleven or twelve win Ravens team.
So the schedule for two or I mean, like for Tampa,
we don't care what the schedule is. We know Kansas City,
I don't worry much about the schedule. Yeah, but a
(11:53):
prime example is for the Chargers. Rookie head coach, second
year starting quarterback. You know, you like a little softer
landing in September so you can build into Brandon's dailykin.
They got that. They got some new pieces on the
offensive line. The Chargers are a team that are really good.
It'd be nice if they could get a little softer
landing in September October. It won't matter for a team
(12:15):
like the Packers. As long as Aaron Rodgers is there,
the best players are all back, they'll be rolling. You
don't want to play Green Bay in September. And with
that he is Listen, there's three receivers in the NFL
to me that are just different than everybody else, in
no particular order. Stefon Diggs DeAndre Hopkins and our next
guest joining us live, Davante Adams eight years, four Pro Bowls,
(12:39):
first player in NFL history with a hundred catches and
eighteen touchdowns in one season, and just a remarkable player.
So the obvious question when I saw you were booked today,
just when you heard the Aaron Rodgers stuff, what was
your first reaction? What I mean, what was like the
first minute you thought blank? What did you think? Well,
(13:00):
when I first got it, um, I was I was
actually on the golf course. I'm trying to enjoy myself,
a couple of gruskies out there since it's a good day. Um,
and then I hear that and it kind of sways it. Obviously, UM,
I don't really know what the thing. Hadn't really spoke
to him, so um, you know, it wasn't the best
news to receive while I'm out there trying to have
a good time. But you know, it scared me a
(13:21):
little bit, but it was you know, a lot of
things that go into this, So I was like, let's
let's just calm down, let's see see what's going on.
We'll talk to him, and then you know, ultimately trying
to figure out what's going on with this thing? You know, DeVante,
you're a free agent at the end of next year,
so you're very, very fortunate that if the Aaron green
bathing did not work, you would be on the market.
And I'm gonna guess you're gonna get whatever you want.
(13:41):
You're gonna you're gonna get a Stefon Diggs deal. So
let's be honest here. Um, this is not a shot
at Jordan's love, but if Aaron moved on, you have
such an incredible working relationship with him, what it affect
your future in Green Bay? Potentially? Potentially? I mean that's
my guy. That's the only guy that I've had, you know,
(14:03):
other than that twenty seventeen season when he got hurts,
It's the only guy that I played with him. You know,
we built up a special connection over the years that
has made it, you know, put us both in really
good positions in our career. You know, not that he
needed me to come along for it, because he was
already in that spot, but we established a lot together.
So it would change a lot. Man. You know, doesn't
(14:24):
mean potentially I'd be gone, but um, you know, I
definitely have to do some extra thinking. If if my
guy wasn't here. Well, first of all, you have the
most catches in a single season in Packer history, which
is kind of remarkable considering how many great players they've had,
all the stats that mattered. Last year you were number
one and all of them. Here's the thing is that
(14:44):
you Aaron needs to trust a receiver to throw to him.
That's why it can be tough for like Tom Brady
rookie receivers, he's hard on him. Aaron rookie receivers, he's
hard on him. You built a trust with him. Take
take me back do your first year or two. When
do you think DeVante you crossed that threshold where Aaron
(15:07):
finally said I trust this kid. Um. I mean that
takes It took time, man, I'm not gonna lie. It
took time before I can, you know, honestly personally say,
you know we're in that spot and he trust me
for sure. There's been times, you know, throughout my first year.
You know, he came to me some critical moments in
playoff game against Dallas, but that we hadn't really developed
(15:28):
that true trust at that point, so I wasn't really
sold that. You know, we have like this this crazy
bond that's going to turn into something undeniably special. So
I would say obviously twenty fifteen was not a great
year for me at all. So definitely wasn't that. I'd
say around twenty sixteen, you know, middle of that season,
we were having a lot of success, scoring a bunch
(15:48):
of test bounds. You know, I was. I was healthy
that year, so I was able to get through it
and really just played my game. And you know, being
hurt banged up in twenty fifteen, just the type of
player I am and the type of movements that I'm
you can't have any you know, nagging injuries going on
with your limbs and ankles and all of that stuff.
So being able to be healthy in twenty sixteen, I
felt like we are able to establish something and kind
(16:10):
of snowball that moving forward. And missed him in seventeen
when he got hurt, but we got right back to
in twenty eighteen and kind of since then just been
tearing it up. Is it's very rare. Adelman and Brady
had this, a Doug Baldwin and Russell Wilson had this.
There's almost non verbal stuff. When I watch you and
Aaron play, it's it's it's like you're playing a little
(16:33):
game by yourself that you haven't let all your teammates
in on. You know, I feel like and by the way,
Aaron doesn't get along with everybody, and that's fine, but
there's something about what you've done that is created this
relationship and kind of talk about that it is special
and not. He hasn't had this with every wide receiver
(16:56):
unless you guys audio. Okay, can you hear me now?
Can you hear me now? Davante? No, All right, we'll
try to get him back. He's up in northern California
right now working out with his kids. At least, it's
nice to know that you can be built like him
(17:17):
and still go out and have beers in golf. That
was kind of encouraging for the rest of us in
America that you don't You don't have to literally be
in a treadmill and lifting weights all day. You can
have beers and that's okay. You can make that work
as well. So all right, we're gonna redial him and
try to get him back on. Just to give you
a thought about what Davante Adams has done. And it
(17:37):
took a couple of years to do it. He led
the NFL last year in receiving touchdowns, receiving yards, receptions
per game, So like the most vital statistics he led
the NFL and all of them. Now, some of that
is a big chunk of that is not only Aaron,
it's Mattfleur system, and it's they have a very good
offensive line, so they've always got time to throw because
(17:59):
he's a guy that can get up the field. DeAndre Hopkins,
Stefon Diggs. You have to have a decent offensive line
to make that stuff work. But the relationship with Aaron,
it's got kind of a Jordy Nelson field to it.
And let's bring Davante Adams back. When I think of Aaron,
the two receivers that have really clicked with him are
Jordy Nelson and you, Devonte. Those are the two that
(18:21):
are special. Is there something you think you have in
common with Jordy or something that you kind of unlocked
the key to Aaron's trust? What is it? Um? I
think it's just years and years of just building that
connection in the consistency. Honestly, I think just him being
able to trust that I know what I'm doing, and um,
(18:42):
you know, he got this thing where I've referred to
him as an elephant before. You know, he remembers everything.
So I try to basically hop onto that training and
be that same type of player where he'll he'll bring
up something he'll tell me in a huddle. You remember,
you know, I guess the Titans twenty sixteen, you ran
you know, outside release this or that route, and I
(19:02):
need you to run it like that. So then I'll
line up there and he'll kind of give me a
look later in the game and I'll look over to
him and know exactly what he's trying to get me
to do. And then you know, coming out and there's
nothing more gratifying than um, you know, connecting on that
type of level, or knowing what your quarterback is expecting
of you doing just that turnaround, seeing a ball and
catching a touchdown. I feel like that's what's allowed us
(19:25):
to be different than any other group, being able to
do stuff like that. Listen, the Packers are a big brand,
they're a notable franchise, but they're DeVante, They're different. They
don't have an owner. It is not only the smallest
NFL city, it's the smallest NFL city, it's the smallest
pro city. It's a very there's a very unique bonding
(19:45):
experience in Green Bay. It's not a criticism. One of
one of Aaron's criticisms of the franchise. They haven't communicated
all the time, and in fairness, he's right. Um, when
when Aaron complains of about that, do you defend him
on that? Do you see that? Sometimes I defend my
guys on everything. Man, I mean this is uh, we
(20:08):
all know, it's a pretty um. You know, dense business
is a lot that happens, a lot that goes on here. Um.
You know, just like any other job, you want to
be happy and you want guys, once you have gained
that respect, you want to be treated with that type
of respect. So, um, there's certain things that you know,
I can't speak on specifics, but there's certain things that
he wants and maybe the club isn't wasn't so excited
(20:30):
about living up to right away. And you know that
can affect a guy who's done so much for an organization. Um,
you know, he's he's put his his body and he's
really late his life on the line out there for um,
for that team, for his teammates and everything. So I've
been behind him one hundred percent throughout the whole thing. Obviously,
I'm praying everything works out and that we get him
back and um, you know, we can continue to go
(20:52):
out there and do stuff like we see on the
screen there because it's a lot of fun doing that.
By the way, finally, because of the pandemic DeVante, we
have not in the media. We haven't seen Jordan Loved practice,
we haven't seen him play. There was no preseason. We're
all just guessing here. So so I'm not expecting him
to be Aaron Rodgers. That's unfair. I never expected a
(21:13):
Brady back up to be Brady or a Russell Wilson
back up to be Russell. But if I asked you,
how far do you believe if Aaron left, how far
is Jordan Love from starting in the league another offseason,
another year? Could you give me some sense, like if
if the worst thing happened in Aaron left, the worst
(21:36):
thing for you, how far is Jordan from playing? Is
he close? I'd say, And here is pretty tough, and
like you just stated, not having any any real action
out there is stuff for me to assess that fully
based off what I've seen, he works really hard, he's
really attentive and UM, you know, he's like a sponge
with Aaron in that room, just soaking up everything, all
(21:57):
the knowledge, you know, different things and with his mechanics,
I know, UM, you know he's been working on to
try to get better and better at UM. But it's
tough because I haven't seen him play, haven't seen him
get out there and do a preseason. So after this year, UM,
I think we'll be able to give a more accurate
assessment of that. UM seeing him going against a few
other teams, maybe some some cross uh you know how
(22:18):
they do the training camp practices. Maybe we'll do some
stuff like that potentially, so we'll see. UM. You know,
I definitely got faith in that it can get it done.
And you know, whoever's out there, I showed it with
you know, twenty seventeen with Bret Henley. I'm gonna get
out there and be ready to ball regardless. UM, you know,
control what I can control. UM, But like I said,
love is he's been looking good from what I've seen,
but that real live action is what it'll really let
(22:41):
us know. Well. By the way, if you quit today,
you get Hall of Fame votes. Uh, you are a
spectacular talent. Congratulations on that. You're You've got something called
Optimum Nutrition building Better Lives. What is that? Yeah, man,
a partner partnered with Optimum Nutrition, UM, you know, the
best in the in the business. They've They've so much
for me, my family, the communities, UM that like the
(23:04):
communities that I grew up in. UM just putting people
in a better position to be able to maximize their potential.
And I feel like that's uh, you know, having a
sponsor like that that you can trust when it comes
to training, especially at the level that we are at. UM.
I feel like it's incredibly incredibly important to be able
to trust that and know that I'm going to be
getting the best out of you know, better workouts, better recovery,
(23:26):
all this stuff that allows me to be in my
pea performance. Davante, You're a spectacular talents. Great to finally
meet you. By the way, have you talked to Aaron
at all in the last a couple of weeks at
all text of him anything, Yeah, we talked a little bit.
It's been um, you know, a lot of still being
uh you know figured out on his end, So it's
tough for me to get into specifics and speak on it. Um. Honestly,
(23:48):
I would love to, UM, can't wait talk and just
get on here and tell you that he's back and
we're you know, we're back and run doing our thing
that we've been doing. Um. But for now, it's just
you know, you got to iron out a few things
and then um, you know, hopefully I'll be back on
the show, will be celebrating, taking shots and whatnot. Well,
I hope you're optimistic today, Davante. Thanks for coming on
the show. I appreciate it. Man, you're a you're a
(24:09):
stud and I appreciate it. Thank you, Boss, I appreciate you.
You bet. Davante Adams, who is just a remarkable talent,
jump off the screen. Great he uh yeah, like it again.
You're just texting with Aaron. Things got to get figured out.
The good news for him though, it's a free agent
in one year, So if Aaron leaves, he's gonna have choices.
(24:30):
He's gonna have quarterbacks begging to get him. Savants got
unhappy he ended up with Josh Allen, by the way,
Davante Adams in the end or not Davante Adams. DeAndre
Hopkins got upset he ended up with Kyler Murray. You're
a star receiver, You're gonna have a say and there's
gonna be a lot of people. All it takes a
star quarterback to go to a GM and say, get
(24:52):
me that guy. That guy is great. And Davante Adams
is Alex with the news. No, no, this is the
herd line news. A quick nook there with Davante Adams.
He sounded kind of hopeful with Aaron Rodgers like it
wasn't it wasn't one way or the other. Just he sounded.
He sounded a little, a little hopeful that it might
(25:14):
work out. So Aaron's not gonna get a Davantae Adams
wherever he goes. No, not getting one. No, No, you
gotta keep that. Okay, Well, we're moving to a rookie
quarterback because Zach Wilson was drafted second overall by the Jets.
But the rookie quarterback doesn't think that means he's guaranteed
a starting spot. My focus is to learn the offense,
keep getting better every single day, you know, do what
(25:35):
I can with the guys around me, and I think
the rest takes care of itself. You know, in this position,
the coaches want to play the best player and that
that position is going to be earned. You know, I
gotta go in there and I gotta make sure I'd
do what I'm supposed to do, and you know that
I'll take care of itself. Get the playbook down. He's
got a nice play caller from San Francisco, and he
will be starting day one. He has to. They're not
(25:56):
good enough for him not to start. No, he doesn't
have the competition, but I like the confidences. It's refreshing.
He's not entitled, but he's saying the right things. He's
reaching out the former quarterbacks, he's being respectful, he's putting
in the work, and most importantly, he actually believes deeply
that he can help this team. Also, they're not paying
him anything for four years. That's the primary reason they
(26:18):
moved off Darnold. So they've got some cap space over
the next several year ors several years, like like with
Baker Mayfield or Russell Wilson in his career, to go
for it and get get difference makers. Yeah, I'm rooting
for him. He's winning me over in all of his
little little press conferences. But let's move over to the Lakers,
because they have been riddled with injuries all season, including Lebron,
who has been sidelined with an ankle injury but could
(26:41):
reportedly return tomorrow versus the Knicks. Now, the Lakers are
currently in the seventh seat in the West, but Ad
doesn't seem concerned with LA's current position. That's fun, to
be honest. You know, we're a three team last year
and this is a I think of the first time
since I've been here to be run until rand It's
a challenge, you know, this is a different challenge for us.
(27:03):
I've got that mansset where control what we can control,
go out there and do what do what we do,
play Lakers basketball, and let the rest take care of yourselves.
So it's fun. Well, right now, they would play the Warriors.
I couldn't play the Warriors yet. They are in the
seventh seat right now and they are set to play
Steph Curriers Warriors. It's an interesting matchup because if Lebron
(27:26):
comes back. Between Drummond, Anthony Davis, KCP and Lebron, it
is a team that is so much bigger than Golden State.
So my takeaway is it's a perfect matchup for Vogel.
Vogel loves Bigs and size. I think everybody's like, oh,
watch out Lakers with staff. I just don't know how
(27:47):
the Warriors could defend the size of the Lakers in
the play game. No, I mean, Steff is definitely going
off right now. He is caring the Warriors, and it's
hard to bet against Steff. But it's even harder to
bet against Lebron if he's playing. And the big question
is going to be is he healthy. He did say
he's not going to be one hundred percent. Yeah, he's
I think Lebron's playing tomorrow. Didn't we hear that could
(28:08):
play tomorrow? But he did say earlier this season that
he didn't think he was going to be back to
one hundred percent, So he will be playing a little injured.
But it's Lebron and he can do anything, So we'll
have to see. That'll be it. That's gonna is gonna
be an interesting week to see how everything plays out.
I'm excited for that all right. Well, despite the fact
that the Packers have shown no interest in wanting to
(28:30):
trade Aaron Rodgers, there's still been plenty of speculation of
where the quarterback could end up if he did leave
Green Bay. Now one destination that has been thrown out.
There was Cleveland, but apparently the Browns aren't interested in
trading for Rogers because the Browns are estatic that Baker
seemingly turned a corner in the second half of the
twenty twenty season. Now, I think, for me, the biggest
(28:51):
takeaway here this has got to give Baker an extreme
amount of confidence hearing that his team wants to keep
him and not go for the they exercise the fifty
year option, and in the end, it's all about fit.
I do believe Baker's personality is so Cleveland it hurts.
And you know, and I say, one of the things
that's hurt Aaron is I don't think Aaron and Green
(29:11):
Bay Wherever an ideal fit. They just made it work
for sixteen years. Baker fits the Browns overlook trampled on
two time walk on for kind of the lonely losers
in the NFL. So I think Baker fits this. It
feels right. Baker feels right. It does feel right. Yeah,
Peyton Manning wouldn't. Peyton Manning was like American Football royalty.
(29:32):
He would have never fit in Cleveland. Aaron's personality doesn't
fit in Cleveland, but Baker's does. Yeah, it works. Good stuff.
Alex with the news, well that's the news. The Herd
so Denver is the team that is being discussed the
most with Aaron Rodgers, so there's more rumors today. It
could happen. I do think they're the best fit. Mark
(29:53):
Schlareth he'll be joining us on that next Be sure
to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon
Eastern a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
the iHeartRadio app. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me
every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
This isn't your typical sportspod pushing the same tired narratives
(30:15):
down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you honest
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or wherever you get your podcasts. Go to Mercedes go
(30:38):
to their website MBUSA dot com slash AMG to find
out if Mercedes AMG coops at an SUV is right
for you, Mercedes AMG driving performance. Well, there's more reports
this morning that Denver is the landing spot. And I've
said there are four or five teams in the NFL
that to me don't have any chance of making a playoff.
(31:00):
But four of the five are based on a bad
roster or dysfunction the Lions, the Eagles, the Jets, or
the Texans. The fifth is Denver. They had two issues.
I think their coach is good enough to be a
playoff team. I think their roster is good enough, and
they don't have a lot of chaos. Although John Elway
didn't work, you remain in the organization. But I look
(31:20):
at them and they've got cap space and they've got time.
It's only May, and I think they solved they had
two big issues. They were bad on the back end.
Well they went and got Kyle Fuller at one corner
and drafted Patrick certand or certain at the other. So
they have solved their cornerback issue. Those are high functioning corners.
Now they're issues quarterback, And to me, I just don't
(31:43):
think you it's may solve your issue. There's somebody on
the market, and so Mark Schlareth played for the Broncos.
Want to ring with the Bronchos, joins me live it
does feel like I mean, it doesn't. Everything lie And
I don't think Aaron's perfect for every organization. I don't
think he'd be doing a lot of eye rolling with
(32:05):
Cleveland's dysfunction. I think Denver because they brought Manning in
and it worked. Not that that would put pressure on Aaron,
but it would be like bro always one here, Peyton's
one here, you need to win here. I actually think
Denver is the perfect spot. Your thoughts on that, No,
I think Denver is a great spot, you know. I mean,
(32:27):
there's always things you're gonna have to give up, right,
You're gonna have to give up draft capital, You're probably
gonna have to give up a couple of young players.
But the thing about a great quarterback and Aaron Rodgers
one of the top five that's ever played the game.
The thing about a great quarterback is he covers warts.
And there's only a handful of them that do in
this league right now? Hey are they do? They have
(32:47):
issues that you have to deal with, Like do you
think Peyton Manning came to Denver and was just the
you know, the prodigal son are that. You know, he
returns home or whatever return comes to Denver and everything's
hunky dory. No, he wants things done the way he
wants things done, and he will drive you nuts as
a coaching staff. I mean those guys that understand what
they're doing. They are very demanding and they're demanding of
(33:10):
everybody on a football field, but they're demanding of themselves first.
And so yeah, I think it's a perfect fit. Like
you mentioned, they have the cap space, they'll give up
the draft capital. Think about where they sit right now,
where they sit right now, whether it's Teddy Bridgewater or
whether it's you know, Drew Locke or whoever else it
might be. You're the fourth best quarterback in the AFC
(33:33):
West as you're currently constructed. Put Aaron Rodgers in there,
and you have your neck and neck you and Patrick
Mahomes or one A and one B, whichever way you
want to parse that out. So yeah, I think it's
a great situation, a great fit for the Denver Broncos.
So you played with John Elway, who, like Rogers, was
(33:53):
the Bay Area super smart. Strong opinions couldn't be polarizing.
At time, John Elway was smart and let you know it,
he was there. Ever, I mean, we make this out
to be green Bay and Aaron have never gotten along.
It was fine until about three years ago and then
it kind of eroded. Go back to your Eilway days,
it is could I say there are occasionally exceptions, but
(34:16):
that if you have a star quarterback, go back to John.
There's gonna be some executive coaching management stuff that just
naturally ticks him off. It's not gonna always be great. Sure.
I think if you go back to John before I
got there, when I was playing in Washington and they
drafted Tommy Maddox, there was a riff between John, the
management the head coach at the time. Dan reeves that
(34:39):
you know, John eventually won, right. I mean that's the
way it worked, because you know, when you are a
great quarterback. I think the thing about the great quarterbacks,
you know, we can look at Brady's shouting at guys
on the sideline, right, we can look at him going
after people. Bottom line is half the time he's shouting
at himself. The other part is there's nobody on the
team that puts more work, more preparation and has more
(35:03):
invested in the football team than Brady. So he holds
himself to a higher standard and he's just bringing you
along with him. That's the way Peyton Manning was here
in Denver, and that's the way Aaron Rodgers is. And
so you're going to have those moments where you great
on people, where you irritate people. People used to tell
me about Peyton Manning. They'd be like, Hey, this is
the way we blocked this in October. We're gonna block
(35:25):
this in November this way. And he would badger you
as a coach and just continue to badger you until
you basically relented, like, no, we want to do it,
this is the way we do it. He would badge
you until you just said, okay, Peyton, we'll do it
the way you want to do it, because otherwise we'll
never hear the end of it, and we're going to
spend the next seven hours wasted arguing with you, as
opposed to just move on and let's do the rest
(35:47):
of our game plans. So you know, the great ones
are wired that way. They know what they want, they
know what they like, and they understand what wins. And
so Aaron is one hundred percent that way, you know,
Like I said, the great ones are all watered that way.
So Robert Sala had a moment this weekend. He joked
about it that he forgot that he was a head coach.
(36:08):
And I've said, listen, it's a tough division to go into.
You got the worst roster, your ownership has been historically uneven,
meddling at times, disappearing at others. And frankly, you got
a rookie quarterback. He's going to be learning on the job.
It sounds like are you were? I mean, he does
have a presence, and I do think that matters. He
does have a presence, and a lot of coaches that fail,
(36:31):
like Ben McAdoo don't really have a presence. Pat Schermer
doesn't really have a presence. What do you make of
Sala's first year? Could it be a mess? Well, I
mean they're gonna have to revamp their roster, which they
are working on as we speak, you know, so that's
part of the deal. Let me just tell you I've
probably done ninety nine games in the last four years,
(36:53):
and Robert Sala is one of my favorite people because
he is one of the most authentic people that you
will ever meet. A guy has an ability to connect.
You know, you're in the business world. I do some
stuff in the business world. I always say this about
whatever business you're in, whether it's you know, selling burgers,
whether it's selling Green Hill, it doesn't matter whatever it is.
(37:14):
We're all in the relationship business. And if you're not
in the relationship business, you're going out of business. That's
how it works. And Robert Sala is in the relationship
business man. His guys play exceptionally hard for him. He
is incredibly tied to those guys, incredibly connected with those guys.
My only concern when you leave when you get when
(37:36):
you elevate to head coach, right and you go from
a positional coach or a coordinator, you lose some of
that connection you have to the players, like you have
so much pride and so much passion and taking a
guy like Fred Warner as a third rounder, Fred Warner
as a third rounder the middle linebacker position and developing
him and helping cultivate him into the best linebacker in football,
(37:58):
and so there's and there's ownership and there's connectivity there
that Robert Sala loves. The issue is as you graduate
the head coach, you lose some of that connection with
your players. So you go from coaching players to coaching coaches,
and the other thing is is you lose some connectivity
because so many things come across your desk. You're constantly
(38:19):
putting out fires, so you lose a little bit of
that connection to your players. And that's what most coaches
struggle with when they finally get elevated to head coach.
Mark Schlareth three rings. Good to seeing your buddy. I
appreciate it on a Monday, absolutely, buddy, take care of man.
All right, here's the Robert Sala sound this weekend. It's
kind of funny and kind of alarming at the same time.
(38:40):
Here it is, give you a quick little funny story.
We just had our bigs out there and we're going
through in the hornblue for practice to be over, and
I started to take my normal spot behind the huddle
to listen to the head coach speaking. I was like, oh, shoot,
that's me. So the thing I worry about is one,
it's gonna be hard to evaluate him. The Jets are
(39:02):
going to lose a lot, at least for a year,
and you're not going to know if it's him or
the offensive line or the roster or a rookie quarterback.
It became very clear late it was an Adam gasee issue,
not as much as Sam Darnold issue. It's gonna be
hard to evaluate him because they're really an incomplete football
team with no recent history in that division of being
(39:23):
able to win those games against the Patriots or the Bills.
The second thing, it's a classic move of hiring the
exact opposite of what you had. I've been in the
news business for fifteen years before I got into the
syndicated business, and I must have seen this three different times.
Is that you have a real fiery news director that
yells and screams, and it works for a few years
and he burns people out, and then you go the
(39:44):
opposite way and hire apathetic or laconic person And the
truth is part of that fiery guy worked. So he's
the opposite of Adam Gase, who had no present, who
was moody, who was dark, who was odd. This guy's
all personality, all energy, got the look, got the sound,
(40:04):
got the intensity. So he's kind of the opposite of
Adam Gaze. And a lot of times companies make that mistake.
There was something about Adam gaish you liked or you
wouldn't have hired him. Companies tend to be that didn't work,
Let's go the opposite, and I that can be at
times problematic. Hour three around the Corner on a Monday
Live in Los Angeles. It's the herd.
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern,
nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one.
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 Herd. You're listening to Fox
Sports Radio AH live in Los Angeles. It's The Herd
(00:27):
wherever you may be and however you may be listening iHeartRadio,
Fox Sports Radio FS one. Alex Curry is joining me.
Joey Taylor off today. By the way, I thought it
was interesting. Elon Musk hosted Saturday Night Live and some
of the Royal writers protested they don't like him, blah
blah blah, and he's different. I mean, he's not for everybody,
(00:48):
but it's interesting. If I was a comedy writer, and
this is where politics has gone in this country, if
I was a comedy writer, it's easier to do jokes
for people with big personalities. Donald Trump's easy to write
jokes about Elon Musk, is easy to write jokes about
Bill Gates, where you know, the richest guy in the
world getting divorced. Now you can write a lot of jokes.
(01:10):
I don't understand when comedy writers go, oh, I do
the show because I don't like or Elon Musk stands.
Do you want good topics to write jokes? Isn't that
the whole part of like, if I was a comedy writer,
you you're looking for somebody to mock or make fun
of her poke. It's hard when if you look at
nobody ever does an impersonation of Gerald Ford, the former president.
(01:33):
He was boring. You can do a Reagan, you can
do it George Bush. You know, people have done great
impersonations of Obama, the bigger the personality Trump. It's hard
to do a lot of jokes on George Bush Senior
or impersonations of Gerald Ford. Elon Musk is the classic odd.
(01:54):
He's not a great speaker. If you've watched any of
his like live speeches. He's done her presentations before this.
I kind of knew going in. I was a little nervous.
I was because I know how awkward he can be.
But he was trending the whole week. Yes, they were
the top news story. They were trending on Twitter. Every
news outlet was talking about it. I want, I want
dysfunctional people. If I'm a comin writer, the more dysfunctional
(02:17):
and different than awkward. It was so awkward awkward people. Yeah,
Christopher Watkins been on that show. He's a little different. Yeah,
he's great on Saturday Night Live Alec Baldwin and his
fiery temper. He's great there. Anytime you can poke people
in the vanilla, personalities are hard to right. Jokes about.
He was willing to do it. He was ready for it,
all right, Colin Wright, Colin wrong. Brought to you by
(02:39):
Jersey Mikes. Listen, good things come to those who wait
at Jersey Mike's. They come to those who don't download
the app. Cut the line, skippet order ahead now through
May twenty third, used the herd the code heard for
one buck off your order. Colin right, Colin wrong. Where
Colin was right, I've acknowledged for years, ten years. Aaron
Rodgers is great, but he's really petty and hard to
(03:00):
get along with. Well. Story came out this weekend from
a former teammate and executive that said, Aaron's an intelligent, trolling,
petting mother blanker. He's gonna make you look stupid for
disrespecting him. Set another why are you getting blindsided. I'm
not saying Aaron's evil, but this is like his criminal
mastermind plan set. An executive put it this way, they'd
(03:23):
have to fire everybody he's dug in, that's who he is.
They'd have to make him the freaking owner of the team.
That's the sense I get. He just wants control again.
These are people who have worked with him and been
with him and been teammates with him. Aaron is difficult
and prickly and condescending. And when I write my last
and third book, I'll write an Aaron Rodgers story that
(03:44):
I've never told. He's a lot to deal with. That's
all I've ever said, and get remarkable pushback. When I
started ten years ago saying it for the record, I
get a lot less now. Where Colin was right always
said the second chapter. If you're write the book on
Lebron is durability. The first chapter, he's amazing. Now he's
(04:04):
not very durable. Three injuries in two years. He came
back last week. High ankle sprain was the injury. He
reinjured it almost immediately. The Lakers have sort of devolved
into a playing game team to make the playoffs, Lebron's
had to me kind of a bitter year where he
usually gets one hundred twenty days off after a title
(04:27):
or a championship roun this year he got seventy. He
was anti All Star game, anti playing game, anti starting
the season in December, and let's just be honest. Now,
not only have we seen the best of Lebron, we've
probably seen the last of him playing engage for a
full regular season. Where Colin was right. Never understood the
(04:49):
disrespect for Steph Curry. Maybe it's the nerdy shoes he wears,
or he didn't have the alpha players want, But he
scored forty nine points in three quarters Saturday. He's going
to win the scoring Championship. And oh, by the way,
he is single handedly putting it an odd fitting Warriors
team in the playoffs. They're currently the eight seed. He
(05:12):
is shooting since the All Star Break forty six percent
on threes and getting thirty seven points a game. By
the way Kad left him, Katie can't stay healthy and
is not even the most valuable Brooklyn net. This is
what Curry is all about. The great players in this
league can lead through dysfunction, through chaos. It's what Lebron's
(05:37):
done in Cleveland a couple of times. It's what Lebron
did when he came to the Lakers. There are a
lot of great players in this league. There are only
two or three that are in Steph Curry's class in
terms of valuable. Where Colin was wrong. Yeah, I started
the year saying the Dodgers had the chance to be
the best team since maybe the late nineties Yankees. They
(05:59):
start at thirteen and three. They're now in third place
in the National League West. They got beat by the
Angels this weekend. At one point, led fourteen nothing and
almost blew the lead. Dave Roberts has to at some
point be on the hot seat before the All Star Game.
Injuries are piling up, Cody Bellinger's not there yet, and
(06:19):
Dustin May is now out. The bullpen is a real concern.
They regularly leak runs late in games. Not a good weekend.
The Freeway Series didn't treat them well. Angels won two
of those. Where Colin was right. Nothing against Kirk Cousins,
but any time you throw a little shade at the
(06:40):
Vikings quarterback, their fans go nuts story came out this week.
They were fishing for a quarterback and strongly considered drafting
Justin Fields when he dropped. It's nothing against Kirk Cousins,
but he has an incredibly low ceiling. He's seven and
sixteen in primetime games and in a division with Aaron Rodgers.
(07:02):
He just doesn't get you to the next level. There's
a reason Stefon Diggs was constantly complaining. But man, there
is no fanbase that gets more sensitive when you criticize
their quarterback. He's very much Derek Carr, but in my opinion,
not as mobile. Therefore, he's got a low ceiling. The
(07:23):
Vikings acknowledging it were about ready to draft Justin Fields
where Colin was wrong. Well, I ripped him last week.
I gotta be fair about this. Anthony Davis dominated the
Sons this week and in a very important game for
the Lakers and scored forty two points. What do you
know he delivered in one of their biggest games of
the year. Listen, it's never been about talent for Anthony Davis.
(07:48):
It has always been about desire. That's why he reminds
me so much of Rashid Wallace, a great defensive player
from a you know, a Carolina Kentucky like program. I
am hard to stop elite defender. You have to beg
to get into the weight room and work on his body.
That's why his body never treats him well. But Big
(08:10):
game in Portland played pretty well. Big game against the Suns.
He absolutely dominated it and he deserves that credit. Where
Colin was right well, very early, even when they were
oh and seven. We kept saying with the Miami Dolphins,
I love the coach and I like the direction of
this team. Peter King and his column this Morning Football
Morning in America talked about Chris Greer twenty eight trades
(08:34):
in twenty eight months on the job. This is why
I like this team, and Greer had a great quote.
Football has evolved a lot of general managers are willing
to trade now. All we think is about getting better tomorrow.
This is a Miami team that everybody seems to like now,
But we said it when they started owen seven. Look
(08:57):
at their offseasons, look at their drafts. Really smart and
Chris Greer is one of these gms who keeps a
very low profile. You don't hear him talk, there are
no press conferences. He is really one of the sharp
cats in the NFL. Where Colin was right. Bradley Beale.
How long have I been saying Bradley Beale's the best
(09:20):
player with no marquee value in this league. He's got
to go to a winner. Well, he's one of the
favorite my guys, right, favorite he is now. The Wizards
are the hottest team in the league in the last month.
In the last two weeks, he's had three games over
forty points. He's going to finish number two in the
NBA and scoring. He had fifty points Saturday. It's a
(09:42):
bad franchise. But I'll tell you this, everybody at some
point has struggled to play with Westbrook because Russell kind
of has a distinct style. What do you know, Bradley
Beale with a past his I'm Westbrook. Over the course
of the season is able to play very well with
(10:06):
Westbrook in the same back court. It's not like he's
a big of forward. They're in the same backcourt. They're
playing very well together. And Beal remains the best player
in the NBA that you've probably never watched an entire
game of. And I'd love to see him in the playoffs.
(10:26):
I know Lebronze Camp huge fans, huge, huge fans of
Bradley Beale. They just can't make it work because he's
expensive and the Lakers don't have cap space. Some thoughts
on Robert Solo, the new Jets coach. He had an
interesting weekend, and Davante Adams is one of the two
or three most gifted wide receivers in the NFL. He's
(10:48):
a Green Bay Packer and he's going to be joining
us next one. More Herd. The Herd streams twenty four
hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app.
Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
We'll get ready for the biggest season ever with the
release of the twenty twenty one NFL schedule Wednesday at
eight pm Eastern on FS one and NFL Network, don't
(11:09):
miss the first look at the entire seventeen game regular season.
Plus Starting Wednesday, fans can purchase single game tickets at
NFL dot com slash tickets. I'm actually very interested in
the Cleveland brown schedule because it's got the Packers, it's
got the Chiefs, it's got the Patriots. It could fall
a bunch of different ways, so it's andy. The Browns
(11:32):
are really good, but they got potentially eight to nine
new defensive starters. So if the schedules brood in September
and early October, that's the difference between winning your division
and finishing second to an eleven or twelve win Ravens team.
So the schedule for two or I mean, like for Tampa,
we don't care what the schedule is. We know Kansas City,
I don't worry much about the schedule. Yeah, but a
(11:53):
prime example is for the Chargers. Rookie head coach, second
year starting quarterback. You know, you like a little softer
landing in September so you can build into Brandon's dailykin.
They got that. They got some new pieces on the
offensive line. The Chargers are a team that are really good.
It'd be nice if they could get a little softer
landing in September October. It won't matter for a team
(12:15):
like the Packers. As long as Aaron Rodgers is there,
the best players are all back, they'll be rolling. You
don't want to play Green Bay in September. And with
that he is Listen, there's three receivers in the NFL
to me that are just different than everybody else, in
no particular order. Stefon Diggs DeAndre Hopkins and our next
guest joining us live, Davante Adams eight years, four Pro Bowls,
(12:39):
first player in NFL history with a hundred catches and
eighteen touchdowns in one season, and just a remarkable player.
So the obvious question when I saw you were booked today,
just when you heard the Aaron Rodgers stuff, what was
your first reaction? What I mean, what was like the
first minute you thought blank? What did you think? Well,
(13:00):
when I first got it, um, I was I was
actually on the golf course. I'm trying to enjoy myself,
a couple of gruskies out there since it's a good day. Um,
and then I hear that and it kind of sways it. Obviously, UM,
I don't really know what the thing. Hadn't really spoke
to him, so um, you know, it wasn't the best
news to receive while I'm out there trying to have
a good time. But you know, it scared me a
(13:21):
little bit, but it was you know, a lot of
things that go into this, So I was like, let's
let's just calm down, let's see see what's going on.
We'll talk to him, and then you know, ultimately trying
to figure out what's going on with this thing? You know, DeVante,
you're a free agent at the end of next year,
so you're very, very fortunate that if the Aaron green
bathing did not work, you would be on the market.
And I'm gonna guess you're gonna get whatever you want.
(13:41):
You're gonna you're gonna get a Stefon Diggs deal. So
let's be honest here. Um, this is not a shot
at Jordan's love, but if Aaron moved on, you have
such an incredible working relationship with him, what it affect
your future in Green Bay? Potentially? Potentially? I mean that's
my guy. That's the only guy that I've had, you know,
(14:03):
other than that twenty seventeen season when he got hurts,
It's the only guy that I played with him. You know,
we built up a special connection over the years that
has made it, you know, put us both in really
good positions in our career. You know, not that he
needed me to come along for it, because he was
already in that spot, but we established a lot together.
So it would change a lot. Man. You know, doesn't
(14:24):
mean potentially I'd be gone, but um, you know, I
definitely have to do some extra thinking. If if my
guy wasn't here. Well, first of all, you have the
most catches in a single season in Packer history, which
is kind of remarkable considering how many great players they've had,
all the stats that mattered. Last year you were number
one and all of them. Here's the thing is that
(14:44):
you Aaron needs to trust a receiver to throw to him.
That's why it can be tough for like Tom Brady
rookie receivers, he's hard on him. Aaron rookie receivers, he's
hard on him. You built a trust with him. Take
take me back do your first year or two. When
do you think DeVante you crossed that threshold where Aaron
(15:07):
finally said I trust this kid. Um. I mean that
takes It took time, man, I'm not gonna lie. It
took time before I can, you know, honestly personally say,
you know we're in that spot and he trust me
for sure. There's been times, you know, throughout my first year.
You know, he came to me some critical moments in
playoff game against Dallas, but that we hadn't really developed
(15:28):
that true trust at that point, so I wasn't really
sold that. You know, we have like this this crazy
bond that's going to turn into something undeniably special. So
I would say obviously twenty fifteen was not a great
year for me at all. So definitely wasn't that. I'd
say around twenty sixteen, you know, middle of that season,
we were having a lot of success, scoring a bunch
(15:48):
of test bounds. You know, I was. I was healthy
that year, so I was able to get through it
and really just played my game. And you know, being
hurt banged up in twenty fifteen, just the type of
player I am and the type of movements that I'm
you can't have any you know, nagging injuries going on
with your limbs and ankles and all of that stuff.
So being able to be healthy in twenty sixteen, I
felt like we are able to establish something and kind
(16:10):
of snowball that moving forward. And missed him in seventeen
when he got hurt, but we got right back to
in twenty eighteen and kind of since then just been
tearing it up. Is it's very rare. Adelman and Brady
had this, a Doug Baldwin and Russell Wilson had this.
There's almost non verbal stuff. When I watch you and
Aaron play, it's it's it's like you're playing a little
(16:33):
game by yourself that you haven't let all your teammates
in on. You know, I feel like and by the way,
Aaron doesn't get along with everybody, and that's fine, but
there's something about what you've done that is created this
relationship and kind of talk about that it is special
and not. He hasn't had this with every wide receiver
(16:56):
unless you guys audio. Okay, can you hear me now?
Can you hear me now? Davante? No, All right, we'll
try to get him back. He's up in northern California
right now working out with his kids. At least, it's
nice to know that you can be built like him
(17:17):
and still go out and have beers in golf. That
was kind of encouraging for the rest of us in
America that you don't You don't have to literally be
in a treadmill and lifting weights all day. You can
have beers and that's okay. You can make that work
as well. So all right, we're gonna redial him and
try to get him back on. Just to give you
a thought about what Davante Adams has done. And it
(17:37):
took a couple of years to do it. He led
the NFL last year in receiving touchdowns, receiving yards, receptions
per game, So like the most vital statistics he led
the NFL and all of them. Now, some of that
is a big chunk of that is not only Aaron,
it's Mattfleur system, and it's they have a very good
offensive line, so they've always got time to throw because
(17:59):
he's a guy that can get up the field. DeAndre Hopkins,
Stefon Diggs. You have to have a decent offensive line
to make that stuff work. But the relationship with Aaron,
it's got kind of a Jordy Nelson field to it.
And let's bring Davante Adams back. When I think of Aaron,
the two receivers that have really clicked with him are
Jordy Nelson and you, Devonte. Those are the two that
(18:21):
are special. Is there something you think you have in
common with Jordy or something that you kind of unlocked
the key to Aaron's trust? What is it? Um? I
think it's just years and years of just building that
connection in the consistency. Honestly, I think just him being
able to trust that I know what I'm doing, and um,
(18:42):
you know, he got this thing where I've referred to
him as an elephant before. You know, he remembers everything.
So I try to basically hop onto that training and
be that same type of player where he'll he'll bring
up something he'll tell me in a huddle. You remember,
you know, I guess the Titans twenty sixteen, you ran
you know, outside release this or that route, and I
(19:02):
need you to run it like that. So then I'll
line up there and he'll kind of give me a
look later in the game and I'll look over to
him and know exactly what he's trying to get me
to do. And then you know, coming out and there's
nothing more gratifying than um, you know, connecting on that
type of level, or knowing what your quarterback is expecting
of you doing just that turnaround, seeing a ball and
catching a touchdown. I feel like that's what's allowed us
(19:25):
to be different than any other group, being able to
do stuff like that. Listen, the Packers are a big brand,
they're a notable franchise, but they're DeVante, They're different. They
don't have an owner. It is not only the smallest
NFL city, it's the smallest NFL city, it's the smallest
pro city. It's a very there's a very unique bonding
(19:45):
experience in Green Bay. It's not a criticism. One of
one of Aaron's criticisms of the franchise. They haven't communicated
all the time, and in fairness, he's right. Um, when
when Aaron complains of about that, do you defend him
on that? Do you see that? Sometimes I defend my
guys on everything. Man, I mean this is uh, we
(20:08):
all know, it's a pretty um. You know, dense business
is a lot that happens, a lot that goes on here. Um.
You know, just like any other job, you want to
be happy and you want guys, once you have gained
that respect, you want to be treated with that type
of respect. So, um, there's certain things that you know,
I can't speak on specifics, but there's certain things that
he wants and maybe the club isn't wasn't so excited
(20:30):
about living up to right away. And you know that
can affect a guy who's done so much for an organization. Um,
you know, he's he's put his his body and he's
really late his life on the line out there for um,
for that team, for his teammates and everything. So I've
been behind him one hundred percent throughout the whole thing. Obviously,
I'm praying everything works out and that we get him
back and um, you know, we can continue to go
(20:52):
out there and do stuff like we see on the
screen there because it's a lot of fun doing that.
By the way, finally, because of the pandemic DeVante, we
have not in the media. We haven't seen Jordan Loved practice,
we haven't seen him play. There was no preseason. We're
all just guessing here. So so I'm not expecting him
to be Aaron Rodgers. That's unfair. I never expected a
(21:13):
Brady back up to be Brady or a Russell Wilson
back up to be Russell. But if I asked you,
how far do you believe if Aaron left, how far
is Jordan Love from starting in the league another offseason,
another year? Could you give me some sense, like if
if the worst thing happened in Aaron left, the worst
(21:36):
thing for you, how far is Jordan from playing? Is
he close? I'd say, And here is pretty tough, and
like you just stated, not having any any real action
out there is stuff for me to assess that fully
based off what I've seen, he works really hard, he's
really attentive and UM, you know, he's like a sponge
with Aaron in that room, just soaking up everything, all
(21:57):
the knowledge, you know, different things and with his mechanics,
I know, UM, you know he's been working on to
try to get better and better at UM. But it's
tough because I haven't seen him play, haven't seen him
get out there and do a preseason. So after this year, UM,
I think we'll be able to give a more accurate
assessment of that. UM seeing him going against a few
other teams, maybe some some cross uh you know how
(22:18):
they do the training camp practices. Maybe we'll do some
stuff like that potentially, so we'll see. UM. You know,
I definitely got faith in that it can get it done.
And you know, whoever's out there, I showed it with
you know, twenty seventeen with Bret Henley. I'm gonna get
out there and be ready to ball regardless. UM, you know,
control what I can control. UM, But like I said,
love is he's been looking good from what I've seen,
but that real live action is what it'll really let
(22:41):
us know. Well. By the way, if you quit today,
you get Hall of Fame votes. Uh, you are a
spectacular talent. Congratulations on that. You're You've got something called
Optimum Nutrition building Better Lives. What is that? Yeah, man,
a partner partnered with Optimum Nutrition, UM, you know, the
best in the in the business. They've They've so much
for me, my family, the communities, UM that like the
(23:04):
communities that I grew up in. UM just putting people
in a better position to be able to maximize their potential.
And I feel like that's uh, you know, having a
sponsor like that that you can trust when it comes
to training, especially at the level that we are at. UM.
I feel like it's incredibly incredibly important to be able
to trust that and know that I'm going to be
getting the best out of you know, better workouts, better recovery,
(23:26):
all this stuff that allows me to be in my
pea performance. Davante, You're a spectacular talents. Great to finally
meet you. By the way, have you talked to Aaron
at all in the last a couple of weeks at
all text of him anything, Yeah, we talked a little bit.
It's been um, you know, a lot of still being
uh you know figured out on his end, So it's
tough for me to get into specifics and speak on it. Um. Honestly,
(23:48):
I would love to, UM, can't wait talk and just
get on here and tell you that he's back and
we're you know, we're back and run doing our thing
that we've been doing. Um. But for now, it's just
you know, you got to iron out a few things
and then um, you know, hopefully I'll be back on
the show, will be celebrating, taking shots and whatnot. Well,
I hope you're optimistic today, Davante. Thanks for coming on
the show. I appreciate it. Man, you're a you're a
(24:09):
stud and I appreciate it. Thank you, Boss, I appreciate you.
You bet. Davante Adams, who is just a remarkable talent,
jump off the screen. Great he uh yeah, like it again.
You're just texting with Aaron. Things got to get figured out.
The good news for him though, it's a free agent
in one year, So if Aaron leaves, he's gonna have choices.
(24:30):
He's gonna have quarterbacks begging to get him. Savants got
unhappy he ended up with Josh Allen, by the way,
Davante Adams in the end or not Davante Adams. DeAndre
Hopkins got upset he ended up with Kyler Murray. You're
a star receiver, You're gonna have a say and there's
gonna be a lot of people. All it takes a
star quarterback to go to a GM and say, get
(24:52):
me that guy. That guy is great. And Davante Adams
is Alex with the news. No, no, this is the
herd line news. A quick nook there with Davante Adams.
He sounded kind of hopeful with Aaron Rodgers like it
wasn't it wasn't one way or the other. Just he sounded.
He sounded a little, a little hopeful that it might
(25:14):
work out. So Aaron's not gonna get a Davantae Adams
wherever he goes. No, not getting one. No, No, you
gotta keep that. Okay, Well, we're moving to a rookie
quarterback because Zach Wilson was drafted second overall by the Jets.
But the rookie quarterback doesn't think that means he's guaranteed
a starting spot. My focus is to learn the offense,
keep getting better every single day, you know, do what
(25:35):
I can with the guys around me, and I think
the rest takes care of itself. You know, in this position,
the coaches want to play the best player and that
that position is going to be earned. You know, I
gotta go in there and I gotta make sure I'd
do what I'm supposed to do, and you know that
I'll take care of itself. Get the playbook down. He's
got a nice play caller from San Francisco, and he
will be starting day one. He has to. They're not
(25:56):
good enough for him not to start. No, he doesn't
have the competition, but I like the confidences. It's refreshing.
He's not entitled, but he's saying the right things. He's
reaching out the former quarterbacks, he's being respectful, he's putting
in the work, and most importantly, he actually believes deeply
that he can help this team. Also, they're not paying
him anything for four years. That's the primary reason they
(26:18):
moved off Darnold. So they've got some cap space over
the next several year ors several years, like like with
Baker Mayfield or Russell Wilson in his career, to go
for it and get get difference makers. Yeah, I'm rooting
for him. He's winning me over in all of his
little little press conferences. But let's move over to the Lakers,
because they have been riddled with injuries all season, including Lebron,
who has been sidelined with an ankle injury but could
(26:41):
reportedly return tomorrow versus the Knicks. Now, the Lakers are
currently in the seventh seat in the West, but Ad
doesn't seem concerned with LA's current position. That's fun, to
be honest. You know, we're a three team last year
and this is a I think of the first time
since I've been here to be run until rand It's
a challenge, you know, this is a different challenge for us.
(27:03):
I've got that mansset where control what we can control,
go out there and do what do what we do,
play Lakers basketball, and let the rest take care of yourselves.
So it's fun. Well, right now, they would play the Warriors.
I couldn't play the Warriors yet. They are in the
seventh seat right now and they are set to play
Steph Curriers Warriors. It's an interesting matchup because if Lebron
(27:26):
comes back. Between Drummond, Anthony Davis, KCP and Lebron, it
is a team that is so much bigger than Golden State.
So my takeaway is it's a perfect matchup for Vogel.
Vogel loves Bigs and size. I think everybody's like, oh,
watch out Lakers with staff. I just don't know how
(27:47):
the Warriors could defend the size of the Lakers in
the play game. No, I mean, Steff is definitely going
off right now. He is caring the Warriors, and it's
hard to bet against Steff. But it's even harder to
bet against Lebron if he's playing. And the big question
is going to be is he healthy. He did say
he's not going to be one hundred percent. Yeah, he's
I think Lebron's playing tomorrow. Didn't we hear that could
(28:08):
play tomorrow? But he did say earlier this season that
he didn't think he was going to be back to
one hundred percent, So he will be playing a little injured.
But it's Lebron and he can do anything, So we'll
have to see. That'll be it. That's gonna is gonna
be an interesting week to see how everything plays out.
I'm excited for that all right. Well, despite the fact
that the Packers have shown no interest in wanting to
(28:30):
trade Aaron Rodgers, there's still been plenty of speculation of
where the quarterback could end up if he did leave
Green Bay. Now one destination that has been thrown out.
There was Cleveland, but apparently the Browns aren't interested in
trading for Rogers because the Browns are estatic that Baker
seemingly turned a corner in the second half of the
twenty twenty season. Now, I think, for me, the biggest
(28:51):
takeaway here this has got to give Baker an extreme
amount of confidence hearing that his team wants to keep
him and not go for the they exercise the fifty
year option, and in the end, it's all about fit.
I do believe Baker's personality is so Cleveland it hurts.
And you know, and I say, one of the things
that's hurt Aaron is I don't think Aaron and Green
(29:11):
Bay Wherever an ideal fit. They just made it work
for sixteen years. Baker fits the Browns overlook trampled on
two time walk on for kind of the lonely losers
in the NFL. So I think Baker fits this. It
feels right. Baker feels right. It does feel right. Yeah,
Peyton Manning wouldn't. Peyton Manning was like American Football royalty.
(29:32):
He would have never fit in Cleveland. Aaron's personality doesn't
fit in Cleveland, but Baker's does. Yeah, it works. Good stuff.
Alex with the news, well that's the news. The Herd
so Denver is the team that is being discussed the
most with Aaron Rodgers, so there's more rumors today. It
could happen. I do think they're the best fit. Mark
(29:53):
Schlareth he'll be joining us on that next Be sure
to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon
Eastern a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
the iHeartRadio app. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me
every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
This isn't your typical sportspod pushing the same tired narratives
(30:15):
down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you honest
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(30:38):
to their website MBUSA dot com slash AMG to find
out if Mercedes AMG coops at an SUV is right
for you, Mercedes AMG driving performance. Well, there's more reports
this morning that Denver is the landing spot. And I've
said there are four or five teams in the NFL
that to me don't have any chance of making a playoff.
(31:00):
But four of the five are based on a bad
roster or dysfunction the Lions, the Eagles, the Jets, or
the Texans. The fifth is Denver. They had two issues.
I think their coach is good enough to be a
playoff team. I think their roster is good enough, and
they don't have a lot of chaos. Although John Elway
didn't work, you remain in the organization. But I look
(31:20):
at them and they've got cap space and they've got time.
It's only May, and I think they solved they had
two big issues. They were bad on the back end.
Well they went and got Kyle Fuller at one corner
and drafted Patrick certand or certain at the other. So
they have solved their cornerback issue. Those are high functioning corners.
Now they're issues quarterback, And to me, I just don't
(31:43):
think you it's may solve your issue. There's somebody on
the market, and so Mark Schlareth played for the Broncos.
Want to ring with the Bronchos, joins me live it
does feel like I mean, it doesn't. Everything lie And
I don't think Aaron's perfect for every organization. I don't
think he'd be doing a lot of eye rolling with
(32:05):
Cleveland's dysfunction. I think Denver because they brought Manning in
and it worked. Not that that would put pressure on Aaron,
but it would be like bro always one here, Peyton's
one here, you need to win here. I actually think
Denver is the perfect spot. Your thoughts on that, No,
I think Denver is a great spot, you know. I mean,
(32:27):
there's always things you're gonna have to give up, right,
You're gonna have to give up draft capital, You're probably
gonna have to give up a couple of young players.
But the thing about a great quarterback and Aaron Rodgers
one of the top five that's ever played the game.
The thing about a great quarterback is he covers warts.
And there's only a handful of them that do in
this league right now? Hey are they do? They have
(32:47):
issues that you have to deal with, Like do you
think Peyton Manning came to Denver and was just the
you know, the prodigal son are that. You know, he
returns home or whatever return comes to Denver and everything's
hunky dory. No, he wants things done the way he
wants things done, and he will drive you nuts as
a coaching staff. I mean those guys that understand what
they're doing. They are very demanding and they're demanding of
(33:10):
everybody on a football field, but they're demanding of themselves first.
And so yeah, I think it's a perfect fit. Like
you mentioned, they have the cap space, they'll give up
the draft capital. Think about where they sit right now,
where they sit right now, whether it's Teddy Bridgewater or
whether it's you know, Drew Locke or whoever else it
might be. You're the fourth best quarterback in the AFC
(33:33):
West as you're currently constructed. Put Aaron Rodgers in there,
and you have your neck and neck you and Patrick
Mahomes or one A and one B, whichever way you
want to parse that out. So yeah, I think it's
a great situation, a great fit for the Denver Broncos.
So you played with John Elway, who, like Rogers, was
(33:53):
the Bay Area super smart. Strong opinions couldn't be polarizing.
At time, John Elway was smart and let you know it,
he was there. Ever, I mean, we make this out
to be green Bay and Aaron have never gotten along.
It was fine until about three years ago and then
it kind of eroded. Go back to your Eilway days,
it is could I say there are occasionally exceptions, but
(34:16):
that if you have a star quarterback, go back to John.
There's gonna be some executive coaching management stuff that just
naturally ticks him off. It's not gonna always be great. Sure.
I think if you go back to John before I
got there, when I was playing in Washington and they
drafted Tommy Maddox, there was a riff between John, the
management the head coach at the time. Dan reeves that
(34:39):
you know, John eventually won, right. I mean that's the
way it worked, because you know, when you are a
great quarterback. I think the thing about the great quarterbacks,
you know, we can look at Brady's shouting at guys
on the sideline, right, we can look at him going
after people. Bottom line is half the time he's shouting
at himself. The other part is there's nobody on the
team that puts more work, more preparation and has more
(35:03):
invested in the football team than Brady. So he holds
himself to a higher standard and he's just bringing you
along with him. That's the way Peyton Manning was here
in Denver, and that's the way Aaron Rodgers is. And
so you're going to have those moments where you great
on people, where you irritate people. People used to tell
me about Peyton Manning. They'd be like, Hey, this is
the way we blocked this in October. We're gonna block
(35:25):
this in November this way. And he would badger you
as a coach and just continue to badger you until
you basically relented, like, no, we want to do it,
this is the way we do it. He would badge
you until you just said, okay, Peyton, we'll do it
the way you want to do it, because otherwise we'll
never hear the end of it, and we're going to
spend the next seven hours wasted arguing with you, as
opposed to just move on and let's do the rest
(35:47):
of our game plans. So you know, the great ones
are wired that way. They know what they want, they
know what they like, and they understand what wins. And
so Aaron is one hundred percent that way, you know,
Like I said, the great ones are all watered that way.
So Robert Sala had a moment this weekend. He joked
about it that he forgot that he was a head coach.
(36:08):
And I've said, listen, it's a tough division to go into.
You got the worst roster, your ownership has been historically uneven,
meddling at times, disappearing at others. And frankly, you got
a rookie quarterback. He's going to be learning on the job.
It sounds like are you were? I mean, he does
have a presence, and I do think that matters. He
does have a presence, and a lot of coaches that fail,
(36:31):
like Ben McAdoo don't really have a presence. Pat Schermer
doesn't really have a presence. What do you make of
Sala's first year? Could it be a mess? Well, I
mean they're gonna have to revamp their roster, which they
are working on as we speak, you know, so that's
part of the deal. Let me just tell you I've
probably done ninety nine games in the last four years,
(36:53):
and Robert Sala is one of my favorite people because
he is one of the most authentic people that you
will ever meet. A guy has an ability to connect.
You know, you're in the business world. I do some
stuff in the business world. I always say this about
whatever business you're in, whether it's you know, selling burgers,
whether it's selling Green Hill, it doesn't matter whatever it is.
(37:14):
We're all in the relationship business. And if you're not
in the relationship business, you're going out of business. That's
how it works. And Robert Sala is in the relationship
business man. His guys play exceptionally hard for him. He
is incredibly tied to those guys, incredibly connected with those guys.
My only concern when you leave when you get when
(37:36):
you elevate to head coach, right and you go from
a positional coach or a coordinator, you lose some of
that connection you have to the players, like you have
so much pride and so much passion and taking a
guy like Fred Warner as a third rounder, Fred Warner
as a third rounder the middle linebacker position and developing
him and helping cultivate him into the best linebacker in football,
(37:58):
and so there's and there's ownership and there's connectivity there
that Robert Sala loves. The issue is as you graduate
the head coach, you lose some of that connection with
your players. So you go from coaching players to coaching coaches,
and the other thing is is you lose some connectivity
because so many things come across your desk. You're constantly
(38:19):
putting out fires, so you lose a little bit of
that connection to your players. And that's what most coaches
struggle with when they finally get elevated to head coach.
Mark Schlareth three rings. Good to seeing your buddy. I
appreciate it on a Monday, absolutely, buddy, take care of man.
All right, here's the Robert Sala sound this weekend. It's
kind of funny and kind of alarming at the same time.
(38:40):
Here it is, give you a quick little funny story.
We just had our bigs out there and we're going
through in the hornblue for practice to be over, and
I started to take my normal spot behind the huddle
to listen to the head coach speaking. I was like, oh, shoot,
that's me. So the thing I worry about is one,
it's gonna be hard to evaluate him. The Jets are
(39:02):
going to lose a lot, at least for a year,
and you're not going to know if it's him or
the offensive line or the roster or a rookie quarterback.
It became very clear late it was an Adam gasee issue,
not as much as Sam Darnold issue. It's gonna be
hard to evaluate him because they're really an incomplete football
team with no recent history in that division of being
(39:23):
able to win those games against the Patriots or the Bills.
The second thing, it's a classic move of hiring the
exact opposite of what you had. I've been in the
news business for fifteen years before I got into the
syndicated business, and I must have seen this three different times.
Is that you have a real fiery news director that
yells and screams, and it works for a few years
and he burns people out, and then you go the
(39:44):
opposite way and hire apathetic or laconic person And the
truth is part of that fiery guy worked. So he's
the opposite of Adam Gase, who had no present, who
was moody, who was dark, who was odd. This guy's
all personality, all energy, got the look, got the sound,
(40:04):
got the intensity. So he's kind of the opposite of
Adam Gaze. And a lot of times companies make that mistake.
There was something about Adam gaish you liked or you
wouldn't have hired him. Companies tend to be that didn't work,
Let's go the opposite, and I that can be at
times problematic. Hour three around the Corner on a Monday
Live in Los Angeles. It's the herd.
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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