March 17, 2023 • 43 mins
Colin discusses the Cowboys releasing star running back Ezekiel Elliott after a steady decline following his big contract and the warning this sends to the rest of the NFL who hope to contend for Super Bowls. He points out the shortcomings of Michael Jordan as reports surface regarding a potential sale of the team that has only made the playoffs twice since he became majority owner in 2010. He also has questions about Aaron Rodgers' legacy at this point in his career as his time with the Packers is coming to an end. Plus, 3-time Super Bowl Champion Mark Schlereth joins the show to tell Colin if the Broncos are prepared to bounce back after a disappointing first year with Russell Wilson as QB.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of 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. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on
Fox Sports Radio. Ah. Here we go on a furrid
(00:29):
day live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you
may be, however you may be listening or watching. Thanks
for my going to this part of your Friday. Jamac Jmack.
The Dukes look sensational. Arizona did not you liked Arizona? Listen.
(00:49):
I didn't like them our group. The numbers came out,
Arizona has a great idea for a run, the path
was clear, and the it's just choke, epic choke job.
By the way, Princeton didn't even play particularly well. It's
aund like sixteen percent from three. Just an unbelievably bad
job by Arizona. If Saint Mary's goes down today, I
may call in sick and run for cover in another country.
(01:13):
Goodness graces. I got my Dukies, though, we'll talk about that.
So the lead story today, the Dallas Cowboys have released
Ezekiel Elliott. He's the star running back for years and
years and years. It's interesting for a four year period,
the Cowboys centerpiece on offense was Zeke for the last
four years. The Titans centerpiece has been Derrick Henry for
(01:38):
three years. The Panthers centerpiece was Christian McCaffrey for six
to seven years. The Vikings centerpiece was Adrian Peterson. Arguably
as talented a running backs as we have had in
a long time. Sixteen years of dominance from the run game,
zero Super Bowls and just two conference championships, both losses.
(02:02):
You don't get much of a payoff when you make
your big bet, and the Cowboys did on a running back,
and it doesn't last very long to begin with. Brady
could still come back and play again. The last three
Super Bowl champions the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twenty eighth in rushing,
the LA Rams twenty fifth, the Kansas City Chiefs twentieth.
(02:29):
Dallas made the wrong bet. Jerry Jones thought he could
replace Bill Parcels replaced Jimmy with Barry Switzer and made
a big bet ninety million two years early to Zeke.
The last team to win a Super Bowl that led
the NFL in rushing was the eighty five Chicago Bears,
(02:50):
and let's be honest, that defense won the championship. All
due respect the best running back I've ever seen, sweetness,
Walter Peyton. If you're a fan of an NFL team
and you're screaming for your team to sign your running
back to another contract, New York Giants, you've got the
wrong quarterback. Quarterbacks lead you to super Bowls, not run games.
(03:13):
You can have one, just like you could have a
nice yard. It's not selling the home. The kitchen is,
The structure is the neighborhood. The location is the bedrooms,
the bathrooms. Yards are nice, and running backs are nice too.
But Dallas made the wrong bet for three and a
half years, and you could say Colin Christian McCaffrey forty
nine ers. Ah. Actually, that's the greatest example to prove
(03:38):
my point. When did their offense officially die when seventh
round rookie quarterback Brock Purdy got hurt. They won before
Christian McCaffrey got there. They scored on plenty of drives
that Christian McCaffrey didn't lead them, But it was. When
this seventh round, unknown quarterback Iowa State hurt against Philadelphia,
(04:01):
McCaffrey was still there. The offense dried up. No running
backs taken in last year's first round, there's a possibility
there'll be no running backs taken in this round. The
NFL is all about making bets. Who to pay big,
who to pay early? Patrick Mahomes pay him early, Joe
Burrow pay him early. Lamar Jackson maybe not pay him.
(04:28):
But paying big money to running backs second contracts, making
them the centerpiece of your offense has a very little
chance of leading you to a championship. And even if
he's good, it won't last very long. Once again, Jerry
Jones simply made the wrong bet. Great businessman, not so
(04:49):
great at helping run an NFL franchise. So I saw
this story. Mythology is a powerful thing. Happens to politicians,
happened to sports stars. Michael Jordan in talks to sell
his steak majority steak in the Charlotte Hornets. Now I
(05:09):
would say this. I was as big a fan as
anybody of Michael Jordan, but lost in all of this
in the highlight culture. You never see Michael's misses. It
should be noted he didn't win squat before Scottie Pippen.
He just scored a lot and alienated teammates. He failed
in baseball, he failed badly with the Wizards, he failed
(05:31):
with the Hornets. Michael Jordan takeaway David Stern, Phil Knight,
and Phil Jackson is a really, really talented basketball player
that probably ends up averaging more points without the titles.
Great players often make terrible coaches and terrible executives, and
(05:52):
we now know bad owners because what made Michael Jordan
great was words like relentless and confrontational and demanding and impatient.
And what makes Phil Jackson a great coach is understanding, flexibility,
zen mentoring, elevating others. Patient mj He's still trying to
(06:16):
settle scores, still giving access for the documentary. After Lebron
won a title in Cleveland and many of us subscribed
to the theory that now the greatest of all time
was Lebron James. Michael is still incredibly motivated to elevate
Michael's net worth, his brand, his shoe apparel wildly competitive,
(06:42):
but the best owners and the best coaches and the
best executives are about elevating others. Michael is great at
elevating Michael. Even as friends, their valet guys, golf buddies,
third tier players, Michael takes care of them. They created
a shield for Michael for all the mythology, and he's
(07:05):
as good a basketball player as I've ever seen. He
failed at baseball, he failed at owning a team. He
was bad with the Wizards, and all he did was
score points and alienate people. When he got to Chicago,
even Michael needed leadership Stern, Phil Knight, Phil Jackson, and
for the record, not a lot of playoff wins without
(07:26):
Scottie Peppin. Everybody. Everybody needs an assist. Everybody can't live
in an island, even the great Michael Jordan, who's done
a poor job of owning and running and drafting the Hornets,
because what made him great as a player has made
him a bit of a disaster with Charlotte, selfish, impatient,
(07:49):
too demanding, not understanding that not everybody has a forty
four inch vertical, big hands and an unrelenting drive. Love
Michael to this day, but Lebron, that's where these two
aren't remotely close Lebron, everybody that plays with him, everybody
is better. He even worked with an old crazy j R. Smith.
(08:13):
He made Kyrie work. Kyrie hasn't worked with anybody. He
couldn't work in Boston, didn't do squad at Duke was
a disaster in Cleveland, Brooklyn was a tire fire. How's
it working in Dallas? Lebron worked with Kyrie. You can
compare these two all you want. They're different people, they
have different games. But Lebron's personality has become his game,
and Michael's personality has become his brand. This thing was
(08:37):
destined to fail, all right, Duke's gonna win this thing.
I'm getting very excited. Yesterday I was torn baked told
by Jamack to keep your eye oral Roberts. I did
for five minutes the game was over. You know, it
is interesting with Duke to have such this clean academic
think about this. In the history of American team's brand,
(09:00):
Duke is a runaway number one in forty years forty years.
One losing season, and that was the year they got
off to a nine and three start and Mike Shashevski
had back surgery. Literally couldn't move up and down the sideline.
That is the only time in forty years they've had
(09:21):
a losing season. Think about the second biggest Brandon college
basketball probably Kentucky chaos, multiple coaches, major violations, lata ego, underachieving.
There is no sport in America where the number two
is further away than the number one than college basketball. Well,
(09:44):
North Carolina and UCLA have have cases, but I think
you're probably right. The gap between Duke and number two
is enormous. Now, I didn't like Oora Roberts yesterday called
the market was all over or Roberts. The line opened
at eight, it closed at six. Two points is a
big swing the mark. It is undervaluing Duke because they
struggled a bunch to start the season with four freshmen,
(10:04):
and the numbers for the full season are not great
for Duke. But I think you're onto something. This is
I mean, they were up fourteen nothing after like the
first five minutes. Also, look at how hard it's been
for Duke to often pivot to the next coach, a
lot of failures. John Shire takes over for coach K.
That was coach K's choice. Seamless, absolutely seamless. They keep
(10:27):
it in the family. I'm supposed to talk to Jay
Billis on Sunday. I'm excited about that because this has
been Duke from no major violations, seamless transition, one losing
season in forty years. In by the way most years,
the toughest conference for college basketball for a large portion.
I'm not sure now if it is, but it certainly
(10:50):
was for Also part of the greatest American college rivalry
Carolina Duke remains Ohio State Michigan the two biggest rivalries
in college sports. So Duke Tennessee on Saturday is the game.
This is how rough it is for the NCAA tournament.
Do you know what the standalone game is to start
Saturday NCAA Tournament, It's nationwide game for everybody, Furman against
(11:12):
San Diego State. Everybody, that's the standalone game. Call Like
everybody always wants the upset, but then you're stuck with Furman.
What you want is a couple of eight nine upsets,
an occasional five twelve. You want the one, two, three,
and four is to win. It's good for ratings. They
have huge fan bases. Also, do you really want a
(11:35):
Duke and Arizona A, UCLA A, Kentucky you really want
to bounce first weekend. Those are big brands that everybody's
got an emotional historic connection to. How about Kansas Arkansas
Saturday telling you right now, give me, give me Arkansas
on the money line on that one. Now listen, that's
not an Arizona call. This is Arkansas cad. That'll be
a good games in the history of Arizona basketball. And
I say this with respect. They've broken a lot of hearts. Yeah,
(11:58):
Tucson is a great college basketball mecca. Yea, even the
great lud Olsen. You see Gronkowski's reaction. He was like
walking at some event and the fans were like, Arizona loss.
He turns, He's like, what like floor that was? That
was a shocking development in the NCAA tournament. Yeah. You know,
if Arizona was a bar, you know why it would
go out of business because it's always one and done.
(12:20):
I think, oh wow, look at your jokes are flying.
On a Friday morning. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine a Empacific
on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app.
It is interesting. If you've had any sustained success people
eventually hate you. It could be Staff, it could be
the Yankees, it could be Alabama football, it was the
(12:42):
New England Patriots. They'll find ways, make believe ways to
hate you. I don't understand why anybody has disdained for
Duke unless you're Caroline and you're a primary rival, or
your Kentucky and you're jealous. But no major violations, academically superior.
One losing season could almost take a COVID year and
(13:02):
the Mike Chevsky back surgery year. You could take those out.
I don't know what they're what there is to dislike
about Duke. I mean, they've had the occasional player Christian
Layton or who I covered, people found him unlikable. I
didn't you know. JJ Reddick irritated some doesn't irritate me.
Grayson Allen drove me nuts. But everybody's got a player
or two in the history of their program that drives
(13:23):
to nuts. I just think Duke's likable, smart. They're NBA
players are smart. They're not always great, but they don't
get into a lot of trouble. They're good citizens. And
I don't know I'm rooting for Duke. Even when I
covered you and LV. If you and LV didn't win,
I wanted to see Duke Quinn. So Aaron Rodgers is
not officially a Jet yet it is interesting, and I
(13:45):
think it's kind of being downplayed that Aaron Rodgers did
admit that he was ninety percent retired when he went
into the retreat, came out and said, it'll be a
jet if you were ninety percent anything, that's what you're
eventually going to do really quickly. So I don't assume
he's going to play long for the Jets, but it
(14:05):
is interesting had he retired, what would his legacy be,
because not all great quarterbacks age well. Joe Namath a
great example, far more interceptions than touchdowns, losing record, iconic,
but nobody already thinks he's an all time great. They
did at the time. Brett Farve not very redeemable lately
(14:26):
off the field, a turnover machine, even though he had
great offensive coaches. He was more iconic than amazing gun slinger.
Feels like, you know, the John Wayne of acting. It's
sort of outdated. Steve Young, by the way, has aged well,
many believe now probably correctly, the great runner, the great thrower.
Eventually he would have been even greater had he not
(14:47):
had to sit behind Joe Montana for years. What if
Aaron retired, I think, much like his personality, it would
be complicated efficiency A plus are m excellent but underachieving
in the playoffs and difficult, aloof and prickly. That's fair.
That's an incredibly fair thing to say, very complicated. Brady
(15:11):
was very clean. His resume is clean. But go to
New England super Bowl in Tampa, huge deal at Fox Sports,
Peyton Manning, clean super Bowl and Indie Iconic super Bowl
in Denver, massive success, lots of fun stuff off the field.
John Elway retired, multiple super Bowls, iconic, big business success
(15:34):
now golfs a lot. But Aaron reminds me a lot
of Big Ben. That's what I think about. That's how
we don't talk Big Ben since he left a lot
of it's his own doing. Think about Big Ben and
Aaron Rodgers the similarities. You're left with holes and underachievement
and lots of drama and what are the three things
(15:56):
they have in common? Both only semi committed in the
off season. Like there were big jokes about Big Ben,
he disappeared in the off season. Aaron Rodgers now disappears
in the off season. Both struggled with young teammates. Aaron
this year, great example, big Ben his entire career young
(16:16):
skill players, he struggled. They took the attention away from him,
and big Ben and Aaron off seasons life. You can
see him retiring playing golf with a handful of close
friends and that's it. But I think it's complicated his legacy,
much as Aaron Rodgers is complicated. First ballot Hall of Famer,
(16:36):
excellent arm, unique style, terrific career, but prickly can be
difficult to coach. Demanded transparency, yet gave teammates, coaches, and
the Packers very little of it. Be sure to catch
live editions of the Herd weekdays and noon Easter're not
a empacific if I said one of the biggest brands
(16:57):
in American sports Nike, NFL, Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees,
Notre Dame Football, Lakers, Green Bay Packers, is Duke the
number one collegiate brand in America. Just think about it,
(17:20):
I mean the biggest brand. Yet Nike's one of the
biggest sports brands in the country. The NFL the Shield
is one of the biggest brands then there's like Steelers, Cowboys, Packers, Yankees.
I think classified Celtics have not won enough titles in
the last twenty five years. It feels like Lakers have,
So I think Lakers also is a more glitzy, flashy brand.
(17:44):
There's a bunch of college football brands that are popular,
but to me, they're all kind of close. Notre Dame, Michigan, Alabama,
Ohio State. They all kind of feel close. Like it
feels like Duke here and then like seven eight programs Kansas, Kentucky,
CLA are a notch below it. To me, Duke has
(18:05):
had one losing season in forty years and there was
an excuse for it, Mike Schevsky's back surgery. I just don't.
But again, I haven't winning the tournament, not because I
think they're a great team. I think they're an improving,
ascending team with really good players, and I think that's
good enough to win the championship. Now, I didn't think
Kansas was a great team. They were an ascending team
(18:26):
with a couple of NBA bodies. That's good enough now
in college basketball to win a championship. So are you
playing well? Are you ascending? Are you athletic. Do you
have a couple of two three NBA bodies and Duke
checks those boxes. So, but I covered them years and
years ago when I was covering U and LV, Stacy Agman,
Larry Johnson, Tark And you know, I liked the teams
(18:47):
I cover. You have relationships, but I have Duke was
my second favorite team. I love dealing with coach k
I thought they were classy and smart and academic, and
they're NBA guys. Arnold was great, but they're mostly really
good guys. And I think over time, sustain success equals animosity,
and people can say, well, there was this this Kentucky's
number two in my opinion, Kansas, Kentucky, Carolina, and it
(19:10):
just feels like there's a big, big drop off. It's
like Pittsburgh and Duke. They just don't fire coaches, right,
It's constant, solid basketball football tradition. The difference is the
Steelers haven't given you in the last fifteen years, the
big payoff at the end of the season. If Duke
can win transitioning to John Shire, I mean, that is
(19:34):
really something. It is. It's different. I mean, because of
back college basketball is such a one and done culture
that It's not like if Nick Saban left, you could
see somebody coming in, a Bill O'Brien or a Sark
or whatever, taking all of Nick's momentum and his players
and his culture and winning a national championship. You could
see that happening. But in basketball, because there's such a
(19:57):
high rate of turnover. When coach k leaves, the players
are gone. You know, you don't you don't have much.
You inherit one or two players, but it's this whole
sport is now just one and done transfer portal. If
you could go coach Kada Shire in a championship, I
mean that speaks to the culture, the focus of the tradition,
(20:19):
the momentum, the intelligence of that basketball program. That is
hard hard to do in college basketball. Like they always
say in baseball, momentum is tomorrow's starting pitcher. That's kind
of what it is in college basketball now. If Calipari
left Kentucky next year, they lose six of their players
to the NBA. Calipari's got they have all new players,
all new coaches. I mean, it's just college basketball so
(20:43):
transactional and so transitional right now as a sport. I
think the Duke's story is unbelievable how well they're playing now.
The argument against them was that this is, you know,
because of the COVID year, there's a lot of fifth
year seniors, a lot of twenty two twenty three year olds,
and Duke's got like nineteen year olds and start line.
That's a huge gap at that age. However, we're talking
about nineen year old who were gonna be the NBA
(21:05):
next year. They're sixth Ban comes off and just buries
two threes and you're like, he's a six eight six
the band who's gonna be in the NBA next year
and the seven footer, uh Lively. I think it's the
Lively sin in the lane, just swatting everything. The kid
Philip Kowski. Unbelievable. This team is pretty loaded, and I
love their point guard Jeremy Roach. Yeah he was there
last year. Yeah, he's he's probably a second round NBA guy.
(21:28):
He was, you know, I mean, obviously the best rookie
in the NBA this year is a dupe guy. Yeah. Yeah.
So it's it's just a it's a really cool American
tradition that has had for forty years no dips. Yeah,
and by the way, they've also had one of the
great programs in the country down the road. So it's
like not easy. It's not like those guys down the road. Um,
(21:49):
I think they missed the tournament. Un see, yeah, they're
out of Indus. Hey, I'm Doug got The podcast is
called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball time, but
it's more about the stories about what made these people
love their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way.
We talked to coaches, we talked to players, We tell
(22:10):
you stories. You download it. He listened to it. I
think you'll like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug
golib on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast orherever you get
your podcast. So there's the Aaron Rodgers drama and then
there's the Lamar Jackson drama. Yesterday. He can go now
and try to get options and offers from other teams.
(22:31):
I don't think there's going to be a huge market
for him, but it is interesting. I looked it up
this morning. I went and got the last thirty four starts.
That's two full seasons for Lamar Jackson. So we've talked
a lot about games he's missed. Well, let's talk about
games he's played in his last thirty four starts. He's
twenty two and twelve, about a seventy percent winning percentage,
(22:53):
sixty one total touchdowns, almost two touchdowns a game. You
get ninety one and a half passer rating and completing
sixty four percent of his throws in a division with
Joe Burrow, I think I would bring him back. But
I was talking about this this morning is and I
saw a story where Washington's bringing in Jacobe Brissette to
(23:17):
compete with Sam Howell, and that was one of the
teams I thought should pursue Lamar Jackson. Washington is treating
it like it's the eighties, like it's the seventies, like
you can win with that. And so for the radio audience,
this is too many names. But for the television audience,
put the NFL head coaches on the screen. Offensive guys.
(23:38):
About two thirds of the coaches are offensive guys. Let's
concentrate on the defensive guys, and let's run through the
defensive guys. Jonathan Gannon Arizona wasn't the first choice, no idea.
John Harbaugh not an offensive coach. I believe if he
was an offensive coach, they would resign Lamar Jackson. But
he may believe, and he may spread this gospel to
(24:01):
the front office. We can win a lot of games
without a great quarterback. Sean McDermott. I thought Josh Allen
regressed this year. I thought the game at home against
Cincinnati and the playoffs was embarrassing. Matt Eberflus fourth place
offense is a wreck. Brandon Staley. Despite excellent offensive weapons,
they were one of the bottom three offenses in the
(24:23):
NFL in the second half. Bill Belichick, defensive coordinator, was
given the offensive coordinator job. Dennis Allen major offensive regression
since he took the job in Sean Payton left Robert
Sala fourth place team couldn't score touchdowns in the last month.
Mike Tomlin good, not great, missed the playoffs. Pete Carroll resigned,
(24:47):
Geno Smith and Drew Locke in twenty twenty three. Really,
Todd Bowle's offense is a mess. Mike Vrabel love him,
but it's regressed. Ron Rivera thinks Jacobi Brissette sa Am
Hall's the answer. Anybody else noticed this. Sean McVeigh and
Andy Reid had good quarterbacks. Alex Smith was making Pro
(25:12):
Bowls golf, got to the Super Bowl. They upgraded from
good quarterbacks to better quarterbacks. Look at those defensive coaches.
I think part of this is I think if McVay
or an Andy Reid or a Sean Peyton coached Baltimore,
they would be creating a sense of urgency. This guy
(25:32):
is twenty two and twelve in his last thirty four starts.
He's a ninety two passer rating, sixty four completion percentage,
two touchdown, a game performer. Now, the injuries and mom
as an agent makes this really clouded and unorthodox and
more difficult. But I just see these headlines and do
(25:55):
these defensive coaches do they understand how it's pivoted? When
Bill Belichick goes out and signs Juju Smith Schuster to
a three year contract, Andy Reid one and done, see
a pal that tells you somebody's tone deaf and somebody
(26:16):
against the current culture. So I Lamar Jackson thing is fascinating.
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe he piqued, Maybe it's over. And
I will give Robert solid credit for the Jets. You
know he's banging that table. We got it. They bailed
on Zach Wilson very quickly. They should have Mike White
let him go you know Aaron Rodgers one, maybe Lamar
(26:38):
Jackson's two. There's a lot of people with Baltimore ties
inside the Jets building, so that's something you gotta watch for.
It is interesting with Aaron Rodgers, he said he was
ninety percent retired, he still could because as the Packers
have the leverage here, they keep pushing back. We want
first round picks. Initially, Tom Pellicero reported it's not first
(27:02):
round picks. Mike Florio reporting now it is first round picks.
So believe who you want. Obviously, compensation is the big
hold up, and the Jets don't have the leverage. They
don't have a quarterback. So I mean, j Mac, you're
a big Jets fan today, you gotta take Aaron or Lamar.
Let's just say it's an aeron issue. Just think about this,
(27:24):
so do you. I tend to believe what the Packers
are doing now is like they didn't have leverage for
years with Aaron, right, and they were kind of timid
and very cautious. Leroy Butler came on the show yesterday
and said, finally they pushed back. But what's interesting now
is they have leverage and what they I wonder if
(27:46):
they're in the recesses of their mind. They're thinking, Listen,
we heard Aaron say on that show, on the YouTube show,
I was ninety percent retired. So as Green Bay thinking,
I'm gonna use that against Aaron push delay. But what
if Aaron just says I'm out, I'm duck. If you're
(28:06):
ninety percent retired and you don't have a new job yet,
though it's close and it gets frustrating, would you consider
just walking away? So this is a tough one because
it's something you just said just stuck in my head.
So the Jets GM, Joe Douglas and the assistant GM
both spent a lot of time in Baltimore. Yeah, okay.
(28:28):
You also said, and I think everybody would agree I
don't totally but that the Packers have leverage. So how
can the Jets grab back the leverage? How do they
gain it back? Well, I would run over to one
of these reporters, Glazers, chef to Rappaport. Hey, Jets have
a deep the front Jets front office is deep knowledge
of the Ravens. They like Lamar Jackson, they know his work, ethic,
(28:50):
blah blah blah, And all of a sudden, the Jets
have another option, right because right now they have no options.
You're saying it, Zach Wilson. Why aren't they creating that
they have another option with Lamar Jackson? Is it because
the front office knows something about Lamar and does not
want to get in Lamar Jackson business because that's the
easy way to gain back leverage. Hey, we really want
Aaron Rodgers. Oh, by the way, this Lamar Jackson guy
(29:10):
who's thirteen years younger than m won An MVP recently. Yeah,
he's available. We'll make a play for him. Why are
they not making a move on Lamar Jackson? Give me
the answer. I think they believe they'd rather make a
two year bet with Aaron Rodgers instead of a four
year bet with injury prone Lamar in their world, because
if you make a bet with Lamar, more of it
(29:30):
is guaranteed the injury prone. Are we sure? Well, I'm
just saying the twenty two starts, he's missed forty percent
of them, ten of them. So last twenty two Raven
games he's missed ten, so it's something okay, But time
I remember late in the season, Schefter reported he was
going to be coming back like Christmas Eve or the
day after Christmas and then he just never came back.
Is that about the contract or was the injury that serious?
(29:50):
Either one? I don't like. I don't like either answer. Okay,
were in the playoff hunt, he threw a tantrum. Okay,
let me let me ask you. If you're Baltimore and
the Jets make a move on him, they have the
fifteenth pick, that's not bad, but like, are you just
letting Lamar Jackson walk out the door? You're gonna make
(30:10):
a move and get him because guess what, there's a
chance Peter King said he don't want to play for
that thirty two million dollars nine. He doesn't. So my
takeaway is, I would I move him for a first
round pick? I would sign Lamar. I think he's really exceptional.
Who another team or the Ravens. No, if I was
the Ravens, I would sign him in a division with
Joe Burrow. They tried though, well, they've made their first
(30:31):
offer and if there is a market. The question is
if there's a market for Lamar, then he's gonna get
one hundred and seventy five million or something there about,
and he'll be happier. But what if he doesn't get
a market and for the record, it's drying up. Are
the Jets the last team at the Jet hear what
he wants because you're saying one hundred and seventy five million,
that sounds great. Would you do three years? The number
(30:53):
I keep hearing is right the exclusive tag. It's somewhere
in the forty five fifty mill right, somewhere in that range.
So say we'll guarantee you three years at one hundred
fifty mill. That's three years fifty fifty fifty, and when
you turn like twenty nine and a half thirty, you'll
come back for another bite at the apple in another contract.
Would Lamar Jackson do that? I don't know. He doesn't talk.
(31:14):
That's the problem. We have no idea what he wants.
So pivot back to Aaron Rodgers today. So Aaron says,
I think talking on the YouTube hurt him a little.
He basically told you I was going to retire. Well,
green Bay now has that a knowledge. So Green Bay
is like, we're really I'm not saying they're tormenting him,
but their takeaway is we're in no hurry. The way
(31:35):
the bonus sets up, we can pay it in September.
So Green Bay now can kind of toy with Aaron,
and I do think in the building there's a little
animosity toward him. I mean, let's be honest. He came
out of that retreat and said he was surprised they
move off him. But that's recent. What about the MVPs
in the Super Bowl, in the NFC Championship case. Listen,
your wife can treat your grape, she treats you bad
(31:56):
for a month. That's what you're living in. That's your reality.
The reality now was green Bay Fields ignored and manipulated
and marginalized for the last eight to nine weeks. Can
he fix that now while he's still on his way out.
You can fix anything. Ay, everything's fixable. But right now
green Bay leverage toy make Aaron Waite. It's a plan.
(32:21):
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. Jason
Light smart guy runs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You know,
they look like they're in no man's land today. Brady's retired,
they don't have an offensive coach. They don't have a
quarterback Baker Mayfield, I guess is it, although it looks
(32:42):
like a backup role or backup contract. So here's Jason
Light talking about the Buccaneers going all in. If I
go back in time, I would do it all again.
We pushed, We've borrowed about one hundred million dollars against
this year's cap and future cap to do what we did.
(33:03):
Came close the second time. But you know, if anybody
wants to criticize what they did, they can come to
any of our three homes and look at our rings.
So we're happy about that, listen. So, and we're going
to pursue another one too. Listen. They've rarely they're an
relevant franchise buy and large, weird at quarterback, never consistent
in their the gap between their eighteen Super bowls, they
(33:27):
got the two playoff games and lost both. So the
Buccaneers are a small market, sort of a loose, small
pirate ship of a franchise, mostly forgettable. So for them
to go all in I completely absolutely buy into. I
think it was the right thing to do. They may
not win another Super Bowl for eighteen years unless they
get Kayleb Williams from USC but that's okay, that's the
(33:48):
franchise they are. It's not an iconic brand. It's not Duke, Yankees, Packers, Niners, Steelers,
it's not you know, the Rams decided to go all
in two and they may may be better. In fact,
they will be better this year than Tampa, but I
don't I'm interested to see how that plays out. USC's
football stadium got very empty, very quickly. This is a
(34:11):
not a one horsetown like Tampa. I mean, the Rays
draw flies, so it's basically a one horsetown with the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And the Rays are over in Saint
Pete so a lot of people won't drive over the
bridge to get there. So it's Tampa's really big show
in town. LA is different. You got to be good.
The Dodgers are always good, Lincoln Riley, you got the
Lakers and the Clippers. You've got pro soccer teams NHL.
(34:35):
I think the Bucks are fascinating. They went all in
in a very distracted town that forgets about you very quickly.
So the Rams going all in, I get it. I
think they're happy with it, and I do think if
Stafford plays this year and his upright they're gonna buy
for a playoff. But Tampa, I will defend the very
end about going for it. That franchise has never been relevant.
(34:57):
You absolutely go for it. If you're the Jets with
Aaron Rodgers, go for it. You're not as big as
the Giants, you're not as big as the Yankees, you're
not as iconic as the Knicks. You go for it.
Tampa goes for it, Carolina go for it. Rams little
dicier proposition. I think they'll rebound, but if they don't,
people forget about you in this city very quickly. Be
(35:20):
sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in
noon Easter not a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS
one and the iHeartRadio app. Mark Schlareth, we never forget
about him, three rings, multiple time Pro Bowler. So you're
in Denver. I was talking to a friend a couple
days ago, and I said, the one team in the
league you know free agency, about thirty five percent of
(35:42):
them hit, about sixty five percent don't. The one team
I absolutely know will be better is Denver. I thought,
as a former offensive lineman, I think they've done a
good job. How's it landing in Denver? Oh, I think
it's in Denver right now. People are pretty excited about it.
And I think, you know, one of the tech to
my radio show texted this in so I can't take
(36:02):
credit for it, but he was one hundred percent right.
The Devi Broncos has spent a quarter of a billion
dollars to overcome the quarter of a billion dollar mistake
they made last year. It's all about mitigating Russell Wilson
and not making Russell Wilson win the game for you.
It's getting back to what Russell Wilson does well. Is
controlling the line of scrimmage. It's running the ball, is
(36:25):
using multiple tight end sets, it's having a real life fullback.
It's about football players. And anytime you talk to Sean Payton,
you meet with Sean Payton, he'll sit there and say, man,
I like this football player. This football player, this football player.
It's not about athletes. And I think one of the
things that Sean Payton did was a real evaluation of
this roster, like a real football coach evaluation of the roster,
(36:48):
and where a lot of people were saying over the
last couple of years, all this roster is really good.
They're only a quarterback away. They're just a quarterback away.
I was saying, hey, listen, they've gone after athletes, they
haven't gone after football players. And there is a big difference.
In my mind, call him. Football is easy for football players.
It's really difficult for athletes. And I think that's why
(37:10):
you look at the trading block right now. You look
at all the receivers on the Broncos receiving corps, all
of them are up for trade right now. He is
trying to move pieces. He is trying to get real
live football players, to slow this game down, to condense
this game, take some of that pressure off Russell Wilson.
So the Jets Green Bay situation is interesting. Aaron's good,
(37:31):
he's polarizing. So it's been dominating our show, perhaps not
as much today. I you know, for years and years
there was this sense that if you were the union
leader on your team, it was not good for your career.
That the owners had a long memory, and many good
players Kevin Mwhi, a lot of good guys that were
(37:52):
union leaders suddenly didn't get the contract offers. And so
you know, never forget who runs the league gets the
she yield. That's the owners. So Green Bay's got the
leverage with the Jets and they're in absolutely apparently no
hurry to make a move. Do you think deep down
they feel marginalized and manipulated the last two years and
(38:15):
they're doing this for a reason. They don't have to hurry,
and they're gonna make Aaron suffer a little. I don't
know that they want to make him suffer, but they
definitely want to try to maximize the value. So then
you have to ask yourself what is the value? What
is the value in regards to draft picks and potential
compensation from that standpoint versus the value of just getting
(38:37):
that number off your salary cap. And so you know,
I think the Jets are playing that game. Like a dude,
you can't carry that number on your salary cap. So
eventually you've got to make a deal with us, and
we're not going to give you the capital that maybe
the Broncos gave a thirty four year old quarterback in
Russell Wilson last year, I think thirty three at the time,
turn thirty four, but you know, Roger's about to turn forty.
(39:00):
So I think there's that game of chicken that's being
played right now. I think Eventually they'll, you know, they'll
figure out what that fair compensation is. But I just
don't think it's the same market from a compensation standpoint
in regards to draft picks and players than it was
last year for a younger quarterback in Wilson, even though
Aaron Rodgers is far more accomplished. If you were the Packers,
(39:24):
I'm the Jets, what would you demand? What do you
think is fair value for Aaron? You're the GM of
the Packers. I just don't think you're gonna get multiple
first round picks. I think a first round pick, you know,
maybe a player to be named, maybe a third rounder
to go with it. Like that to me feels like
(39:45):
that's fair compensation. So I just don't think it's multiple
picks for a guy that maybe plays one maybe two
years more. So listen, I'm I'm all in on Aaron
Rodgers going to the Jets. I think the Jets are
a good young football team. I love Robert Solid, their
head coach. I think he gets the most out of
his players. They've got a great defense, and they've got
(40:07):
some good young, offensive, talented players. And so I look
at this, you push it into the middle, you do
what Tampa Bay. Did you go out there and you
see if you can't win a super Bowl. I think
that's a I think that's a fair expectation to either
compete for that division title or at least be a
wild card team and get yourself in his playoffs. But
(40:27):
the bottom line is, I just think from a compensation standpoint,
they're not gonna get the whole that maybe Seattle got
from Denver last year. Lamar Jackson, if you look at
his last thirty four starts, he scored two touchdowns per
game sixty one and he's twenty four and twelve. That's
the last thirty six, so maybe it was twenty. Whatever
(40:50):
the number was. He wins two out of three games.
I in a division with Joe Burrow and the owa's
consistent Steelers and Deshaun Watson, I would resign him. But
it doesn't. I mean, Baltimore is basically saying, kid, go
to the market, get an offer. We don't think there's
gonna be a bidding war. What if there is no
bidding war? I mean, I'll just ask you, what would
(41:14):
you do GM of the Ravens, what would you do well?
I think they're playing at the Ravens are playing it
exceptionally well. They're saying, go out there, see what's out there.
You know, if you can get a big time contract,
at least we're gonna get compensated for it. But we
don't believe the market for you is what you think
the market is for you. Now, one thing I do know.
You know, the latest report was a three year, fully
(41:36):
guaranteed contract at one hundred and thirty three million dollars.
I believe like forty four and change a year. Right,
let me tell you what never happens. Players don't release
information and agents don't release information on contracts that they're
not planning to sign. So there's always whenever I hear
those numbers, I always saying, okay, but what else? Like
(41:58):
what are we not hearing? So what are the you know,
what's the fine prints say toward the end of that
contract or the end is there? They're added years? What
else is going on that we're not getting? Are their
options on that? So I don't know exactly what that is,
but I think the Baltimore Ravens are basically saying, hey man,
you know, you've got to understand that the style with
(42:20):
which you play has proven not to be a style
in which you can stay healthy. The last two years,
he's played twelve games each year in a seventeen game season. Um,
I'm no mathematician, but that's missing five games. And listen,
I look at that style and say, until you can
prove that that style can win us a championship and
(42:40):
that you can stay healthy with that heavy run quarterback
run offense, Um, we're just not going to reward you
with one of those Deshaun Watson deals. Not that anybody's
gonna write another Deshaun Watson deal. I mean, for crying
out loud, I think everybody's ticked off at Jimmy Haslem
for writing that deal. So the other thing, Jimmy, like,
(43:01):
at some point when you're a billionaire, don't you change
your name from Jimmy James. Yeah, I think you grow
up a little bit. They just grow up a little
bit and quick, quick giving off those contracts. But the
bottom line, I don't think any owner is going to
play that game. And I think they're all kissed off
with Jimmy Hasm Mark Schlareth, multiple rings, multiple Pro Bowls,
he's stopping buy in Denver. Good good. I think Chicago's
(43:23):
helped themselves and the Broncos in the AFC have helped
themselves noticeably. Good seeing you, Mark, you two go, I'll
take everybody
Thanks for listening to the Best of 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. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on
Fox Sports Radio. Ah. Here we go on a furrid
(00:29):
day live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you
may be, however you may be listening or watching. Thanks
for my going to this part of your Friday. Jamac Jmack.
The Dukes look sensational. Arizona did not you liked Arizona? Listen.
(00:49):
I didn't like them our group. The numbers came out,
Arizona has a great idea for a run, the path
was clear, and the it's just choke, epic choke job.
By the way, Princeton didn't even play particularly well. It's
aund like sixteen percent from three. Just an unbelievably bad
job by Arizona. If Saint Mary's goes down today, I
may call in sick and run for cover in another country.
(01:13):
Goodness graces. I got my Dukies, though, we'll talk about that.
So the lead story today, the Dallas Cowboys have released
Ezekiel Elliott. He's the star running back for years and
years and years. It's interesting for a four year period,
the Cowboys centerpiece on offense was Zeke for the last
four years. The Titans centerpiece has been Derrick Henry for
(01:38):
three years. The Panthers centerpiece was Christian McCaffrey for six
to seven years. The Vikings centerpiece was Adrian Peterson. Arguably
as talented a running backs as we have had in
a long time. Sixteen years of dominance from the run game,
zero Super Bowls and just two conference championships, both losses.
(02:02):
You don't get much of a payoff when you make
your big bet, and the Cowboys did on a running back,
and it doesn't last very long to begin with. Brady
could still come back and play again. The last three
Super Bowl champions the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twenty eighth in rushing,
the LA Rams twenty fifth, the Kansas City Chiefs twentieth.
(02:29):
Dallas made the wrong bet. Jerry Jones thought he could
replace Bill Parcels replaced Jimmy with Barry Switzer and made
a big bet ninety million two years early to Zeke.
The last team to win a Super Bowl that led
the NFL in rushing was the eighty five Chicago Bears,
(02:50):
and let's be honest, that defense won the championship. All
due respect the best running back I've ever seen, sweetness,
Walter Peyton. If you're a fan of an NFL team
and you're screaming for your team to sign your running
back to another contract, New York Giants, you've got the
wrong quarterback. Quarterbacks lead you to super Bowls, not run games.
(03:13):
You can have one, just like you could have a
nice yard. It's not selling the home. The kitchen is,
The structure is the neighborhood. The location is the bedrooms,
the bathrooms. Yards are nice, and running backs are nice too.
But Dallas made the wrong bet for three and a
half years, and you could say Colin Christian McCaffrey forty
nine ers. Ah. Actually, that's the greatest example to prove
(03:38):
my point. When did their offense officially die when seventh
round rookie quarterback Brock Purdy got hurt. They won before
Christian McCaffrey got there. They scored on plenty of drives
that Christian McCaffrey didn't lead them, But it was. When
this seventh round, unknown quarterback Iowa State hurt against Philadelphia,
(04:01):
McCaffrey was still there. The offense dried up. No running
backs taken in last year's first round, there's a possibility
there'll be no running backs taken in this round. The
NFL is all about making bets. Who to pay big,
who to pay early? Patrick Mahomes pay him early, Joe
Burrow pay him early. Lamar Jackson maybe not pay him.
(04:28):
But paying big money to running backs second contracts, making
them the centerpiece of your offense has a very little
chance of leading you to a championship. And even if
he's good, it won't last very long. Once again, Jerry
Jones simply made the wrong bet. Great businessman, not so
(04:49):
great at helping run an NFL franchise. So I saw
this story. Mythology is a powerful thing. Happens to politicians,
happened to sports stars. Michael Jordan in talks to sell
his steak majority steak in the Charlotte Hornets. Now I
(05:09):
would say this. I was as big a fan as
anybody of Michael Jordan, but lost in all of this
in the highlight culture. You never see Michael's misses. It
should be noted he didn't win squat before Scottie Pippen.
He just scored a lot and alienated teammates. He failed
in baseball, he failed badly with the Wizards, he failed
(05:31):
with the Hornets. Michael Jordan takeaway David Stern, Phil Knight,
and Phil Jackson is a really, really talented basketball player
that probably ends up averaging more points without the titles.
Great players often make terrible coaches and terrible executives, and
(05:52):
we now know bad owners because what made Michael Jordan
great was words like relentless and confrontational and demanding and impatient.
And what makes Phil Jackson a great coach is understanding, flexibility,
zen mentoring, elevating others. Patient mj He's still trying to
(06:16):
settle scores, still giving access for the documentary. After Lebron
won a title in Cleveland and many of us subscribed
to the theory that now the greatest of all time
was Lebron James. Michael is still incredibly motivated to elevate
Michael's net worth, his brand, his shoe apparel wildly competitive,
(06:42):
but the best owners and the best coaches and the
best executives are about elevating others. Michael is great at
elevating Michael. Even as friends, their valet guys, golf buddies,
third tier players, Michael takes care of them. They created
a shield for Michael for all the mythology, and he's
(07:05):
as good a basketball player as I've ever seen. He
failed at baseball, he failed at owning a team. He
was bad with the Wizards, and all he did was
score points and alienate people. When he got to Chicago,
even Michael needed leadership Stern, Phil Knight, Phil Jackson, and
for the record, not a lot of playoff wins without
(07:26):
Scottie Peppin. Everybody. Everybody needs an assist. Everybody can't live
in an island, even the great Michael Jordan, who's done
a poor job of owning and running and drafting the Hornets,
because what made him great as a player has made
him a bit of a disaster with Charlotte, selfish, impatient,
(07:49):
too demanding, not understanding that not everybody has a forty
four inch vertical, big hands and an unrelenting drive. Love
Michael to this day, but Lebron, that's where these two
aren't remotely close Lebron, everybody that plays with him, everybody
is better. He even worked with an old crazy j R. Smith.
(08:13):
He made Kyrie work. Kyrie hasn't worked with anybody. He
couldn't work in Boston, didn't do squad at Duke was
a disaster in Cleveland, Brooklyn was a tire fire. How's
it working in Dallas? Lebron worked with Kyrie. You can
compare these two all you want. They're different people, they
have different games. But Lebron's personality has become his game,
and Michael's personality has become his brand. This thing was
(08:37):
destined to fail, all right, Duke's gonna win this thing.
I'm getting very excited. Yesterday I was torn baked told
by Jamack to keep your eye oral Roberts. I did
for five minutes the game was over. You know, it
is interesting with Duke to have such this clean academic
think about this. In the history of American team's brand,
(09:00):
Duke is a runaway number one in forty years forty years.
One losing season, and that was the year they got
off to a nine and three start and Mike Shashevski
had back surgery. Literally couldn't move up and down the sideline.
That is the only time in forty years they've had
(09:21):
a losing season. Think about the second biggest Brandon college
basketball probably Kentucky chaos, multiple coaches, major violations, lata ego, underachieving.
There is no sport in America where the number two
is further away than the number one than college basketball. Well,
(09:44):
North Carolina and UCLA have have cases, but I think
you're probably right. The gap between Duke and number two
is enormous. Now, I didn't like Oora Roberts yesterday called
the market was all over or Roberts. The line opened
at eight, it closed at six. Two points is a
big swing the mark. It is undervaluing Duke because they
struggled a bunch to start the season with four freshmen,
(10:04):
and the numbers for the full season are not great
for Duke. But I think you're onto something. This is
I mean, they were up fourteen nothing after like the
first five minutes. Also, look at how hard it's been
for Duke to often pivot to the next coach, a
lot of failures. John Shire takes over for coach K.
That was coach K's choice. Seamless, absolutely seamless. They keep
(10:27):
it in the family. I'm supposed to talk to Jay
Billis on Sunday. I'm excited about that because this has
been Duke from no major violations, seamless transition, one losing
season in forty years. In by the way most years,
the toughest conference for college basketball for a large portion.
I'm not sure now if it is, but it certainly
(10:50):
was for Also part of the greatest American college rivalry
Carolina Duke remains Ohio State Michigan the two biggest rivalries
in college sports. So Duke Tennessee on Saturday is the game.
This is how rough it is for the NCAA tournament.
Do you know what the standalone game is to start
Saturday NCAA Tournament, It's nationwide game for everybody, Furman against
(11:12):
San Diego State. Everybody, that's the standalone game. Call Like
everybody always wants the upset, but then you're stuck with Furman.
What you want is a couple of eight nine upsets,
an occasional five twelve. You want the one, two, three,
and four is to win. It's good for ratings. They
have huge fan bases. Also, do you really want a
(11:35):
Duke and Arizona A, UCLA A, Kentucky you really want
to bounce first weekend. Those are big brands that everybody's
got an emotional historic connection to. How about Kansas Arkansas
Saturday telling you right now, give me, give me Arkansas
on the money line on that one. Now listen, that's
not an Arizona call. This is Arkansas cad. That'll be
a good games in the history of Arizona basketball. And
I say this with respect. They've broken a lot of hearts. Yeah,
(11:58):
Tucson is a great college basketball mecca. Yea, even the
great lud Olsen. You see Gronkowski's reaction. He was like
walking at some event and the fans were like, Arizona loss.
He turns, He's like, what like floor that was? That
was a shocking development in the NCAA tournament. Yeah. You know,
if Arizona was a bar, you know why it would
go out of business because it's always one and done.
(12:20):
I think, oh wow, look at your jokes are flying.
On a Friday morning. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine a Empacific
on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app.
It is interesting. If you've had any sustained success people
eventually hate you. It could be Staff, it could be
the Yankees, it could be Alabama football, it was the
(12:42):
New England Patriots. They'll find ways, make believe ways to
hate you. I don't understand why anybody has disdained for
Duke unless you're Caroline and you're a primary rival, or
your Kentucky and you're jealous. But no major violations, academically superior.
One losing season could almost take a COVID year and
(13:02):
the Mike Chevsky back surgery year. You could take those out.
I don't know what they're what there is to dislike
about Duke. I mean, they've had the occasional player Christian
Layton or who I covered, people found him unlikable. I
didn't you know. JJ Reddick irritated some doesn't irritate me.
Grayson Allen drove me nuts. But everybody's got a player
or two in the history of their program that drives
(13:23):
to nuts. I just think Duke's likable, smart. They're NBA
players are smart. They're not always great, but they don't
get into a lot of trouble. They're good citizens. And
I don't know I'm rooting for Duke. Even when I
covered you and LV. If you and LV didn't win,
I wanted to see Duke Quinn. So Aaron Rodgers is
not officially a Jet yet it is interesting, and I
(13:45):
think it's kind of being downplayed that Aaron Rodgers did
admit that he was ninety percent retired when he went
into the retreat, came out and said, it'll be a
jet if you were ninety percent anything, that's what you're
eventually going to do really quickly. So I don't assume
he's going to play long for the Jets, but it
(14:05):
is interesting had he retired, what would his legacy be,
because not all great quarterbacks age well. Joe Namath a
great example, far more interceptions than touchdowns, losing record, iconic,
but nobody already thinks he's an all time great. They
did at the time. Brett Farve not very redeemable lately
(14:26):
off the field, a turnover machine, even though he had
great offensive coaches. He was more iconic than amazing gun slinger.
Feels like, you know, the John Wayne of acting. It's
sort of outdated. Steve Young, by the way, has aged well,
many believe now probably correctly, the great runner, the great thrower.
Eventually he would have been even greater had he not
(14:47):
had to sit behind Joe Montana for years. What if
Aaron retired, I think, much like his personality, it would
be complicated efficiency A plus are m excellent but underachieving
in the playoffs and difficult, aloof and prickly. That's fair.
That's an incredibly fair thing to say, very complicated. Brady
(15:11):
was very clean. His resume is clean. But go to
New England super Bowl in Tampa, huge deal at Fox Sports,
Peyton Manning, clean super Bowl and Indie Iconic super Bowl
in Denver, massive success, lots of fun stuff off the field.
John Elway retired, multiple super Bowls, iconic, big business success
(15:34):
now golfs a lot. But Aaron reminds me a lot
of Big Ben. That's what I think about. That's how
we don't talk Big Ben since he left a lot
of it's his own doing. Think about Big Ben and
Aaron Rodgers the similarities. You're left with holes and underachievement
and lots of drama and what are the three things
(15:56):
they have in common? Both only semi committed in the
off season. Like there were big jokes about Big Ben,
he disappeared in the off season. Aaron Rodgers now disappears
in the off season. Both struggled with young teammates. Aaron
this year, great example, big Ben his entire career young
(16:16):
skill players, he struggled. They took the attention away from him,
and big Ben and Aaron off seasons life. You can
see him retiring playing golf with a handful of close
friends and that's it. But I think it's complicated his legacy,
much as Aaron Rodgers is complicated. First ballot Hall of Famer,
(16:36):
excellent arm, unique style, terrific career, but prickly can be
difficult to coach. Demanded transparency, yet gave teammates, coaches, and
the Packers very little of it. Be sure to catch
live editions of the Herd weekdays and noon Easter're not
a empacific if I said one of the biggest brands
(16:57):
in American sports Nike, NFL, Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees,
Notre Dame Football, Lakers, Green Bay Packers, is Duke the
number one collegiate brand in America. Just think about it,
(17:20):
I mean the biggest brand. Yet Nike's one of the
biggest sports brands in the country. The NFL the Shield
is one of the biggest brands then there's like Steelers, Cowboys, Packers, Yankees.
I think classified Celtics have not won enough titles in
the last twenty five years. It feels like Lakers have,
So I think Lakers also is a more glitzy, flashy brand.
(17:44):
There's a bunch of college football brands that are popular,
but to me, they're all kind of close. Notre Dame, Michigan, Alabama,
Ohio State. They all kind of feel close. Like it
feels like Duke here and then like seven eight programs Kansas, Kentucky,
CLA are a notch below it. To me, Duke has
(18:05):
had one losing season in forty years and there was
an excuse for it, Mike Schevsky's back surgery. I just don't.
But again, I haven't winning the tournament, not because I
think they're a great team. I think they're an improving,
ascending team with really good players, and I think that's
good enough to win the championship. Now, I didn't think
Kansas was a great team. They were an ascending team
(18:26):
with a couple of NBA bodies. That's good enough now
in college basketball to win a championship. So are you
playing well? Are you ascending? Are you athletic. Do you
have a couple of two three NBA bodies and Duke
checks those boxes. So, but I covered them years and
years ago when I was covering U and LV, Stacy Agman,
Larry Johnson, Tark And you know, I liked the teams
(18:47):
I cover. You have relationships, but I have Duke was
my second favorite team. I love dealing with coach k
I thought they were classy and smart and academic, and
they're NBA guys. Arnold was great, but they're mostly really
good guys. And I think over time, sustain success equals animosity,
and people can say, well, there was this this Kentucky's
number two in my opinion, Kansas, Kentucky, Carolina, and it
(19:10):
just feels like there's a big, big drop off. It's
like Pittsburgh and Duke. They just don't fire coaches, right,
It's constant, solid basketball football tradition. The difference is the
Steelers haven't given you in the last fifteen years, the
big payoff at the end of the season. If Duke
can win transitioning to John Shire, I mean, that is
(19:34):
really something. It is. It's different. I mean, because of
back college basketball is such a one and done culture
that It's not like if Nick Saban left, you could
see somebody coming in, a Bill O'Brien or a Sark
or whatever, taking all of Nick's momentum and his players
and his culture and winning a national championship. You could
see that happening. But in basketball, because there's such a
(19:57):
high rate of turnover. When coach k leaves, the players
are gone. You know, you don't you don't have much.
You inherit one or two players, but it's this whole
sport is now just one and done transfer portal. If
you could go coach Kada Shire in a championship, I
mean that speaks to the culture, the focus of the tradition,
(20:19):
the momentum, the intelligence of that basketball program. That is
hard hard to do in college basketball. Like they always
say in baseball, momentum is tomorrow's starting pitcher. That's kind
of what it is in college basketball now. If Calipari
left Kentucky next year, they lose six of their players
to the NBA. Calipari's got they have all new players,
all new coaches. I mean, it's just college basketball so
(20:43):
transactional and so transitional right now as a sport. I
think the Duke's story is unbelievable how well they're playing now.
The argument against them was that this is, you know,
because of the COVID year, there's a lot of fifth
year seniors, a lot of twenty two twenty three year olds,
and Duke's got like nineteen year olds and start line.
That's a huge gap at that age. However, we're talking
about nineen year old who were gonna be the NBA
(21:05):
next year. They're sixth Ban comes off and just buries
two threes and you're like, he's a six eight six
the band who's gonna be in the NBA next year
and the seven footer, uh Lively. I think it's the
Lively sin in the lane, just swatting everything. The kid
Philip Kowski. Unbelievable. This team is pretty loaded, and I
love their point guard Jeremy Roach. Yeah he was there
last year. Yeah, he's he's probably a second round NBA guy.
(21:28):
He was, you know, I mean, obviously the best rookie
in the NBA this year is a dupe guy. Yeah. Yeah.
So it's it's just a it's a really cool American
tradition that has had for forty years no dips. Yeah,
and by the way, they've also had one of the
great programs in the country down the road. So it's
like not easy. It's not like those guys down the road. Um,
(21:49):
I think they missed the tournament. Un see, yeah, they're
out of Indus. Hey, I'm Doug got The podcast is
called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball time, but
it's more about the stories about what made these people
love their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way.
We talked to coaches, we talked to players, We tell
(22:10):
you stories. You download it. He listened to it. I
think you'll like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug
golib on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast orherever you get
your podcast. So there's the Aaron Rodgers drama and then
there's the Lamar Jackson drama. Yesterday. He can go now
and try to get options and offers from other teams.
(22:31):
I don't think there's going to be a huge market
for him, but it is interesting. I looked it up
this morning. I went and got the last thirty four starts.
That's two full seasons for Lamar Jackson. So we've talked
a lot about games he's missed. Well, let's talk about
games he's played in his last thirty four starts. He's
twenty two and twelve, about a seventy percent winning percentage,
(22:53):
sixty one total touchdowns, almost two touchdowns a game. You
get ninety one and a half passer rating and completing
sixty four percent of his throws in a division with
Joe Burrow, I think I would bring him back. But
I was talking about this this morning is and I
saw a story where Washington's bringing in Jacobe Brissette to
(23:17):
compete with Sam Howell, and that was one of the
teams I thought should pursue Lamar Jackson. Washington is treating
it like it's the eighties, like it's the seventies, like
you can win with that. And so for the radio audience,
this is too many names. But for the television audience,
put the NFL head coaches on the screen. Offensive guys.
(23:38):
About two thirds of the coaches are offensive guys. Let's
concentrate on the defensive guys, and let's run through the
defensive guys. Jonathan Gannon Arizona wasn't the first choice, no idea.
John Harbaugh not an offensive coach. I believe if he
was an offensive coach, they would resign Lamar Jackson. But
he may believe, and he may spread this gospel to
(24:01):
the front office. We can win a lot of games
without a great quarterback. Sean McDermott. I thought Josh Allen
regressed this year. I thought the game at home against
Cincinnati and the playoffs was embarrassing. Matt Eberflus fourth place
offense is a wreck. Brandon Staley. Despite excellent offensive weapons,
they were one of the bottom three offenses in the
(24:23):
NFL in the second half. Bill Belichick, defensive coordinator, was
given the offensive coordinator job. Dennis Allen major offensive regression
since he took the job in Sean Payton left Robert
Sala fourth place team couldn't score touchdowns in the last month.
Mike Tomlin good, not great, missed the playoffs. Pete Carroll resigned,
(24:47):
Geno Smith and Drew Locke in twenty twenty three. Really,
Todd Bowle's offense is a mess. Mike Vrabel love him,
but it's regressed. Ron Rivera thinks Jacobi Brissette sa Am
Hall's the answer. Anybody else noticed this. Sean McVeigh and
Andy Reid had good quarterbacks. Alex Smith was making Pro
(25:12):
Bowls golf, got to the Super Bowl. They upgraded from
good quarterbacks to better quarterbacks. Look at those defensive coaches.
I think part of this is I think if McVay
or an Andy Reid or a Sean Peyton coached Baltimore,
they would be creating a sense of urgency. This guy
(25:32):
is twenty two and twelve in his last thirty four starts.
He's a ninety two passer rating, sixty four completion percentage,
two touchdown, a game performer. Now, the injuries and mom
as an agent makes this really clouded and unorthodox and
more difficult. But I just see these headlines and do
(25:55):
these defensive coaches do they understand how it's pivoted? When
Bill Belichick goes out and signs Juju Smith Schuster to
a three year contract, Andy Reid one and done, see
a pal that tells you somebody's tone deaf and somebody
(26:16):
against the current culture. So I Lamar Jackson thing is fascinating.
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe he piqued, Maybe it's over. And
I will give Robert solid credit for the Jets. You
know he's banging that table. We got it. They bailed
on Zach Wilson very quickly. They should have Mike White
let him go you know Aaron Rodgers one, maybe Lamar
(26:38):
Jackson's two. There's a lot of people with Baltimore ties
inside the Jets building, so that's something you gotta watch for.
It is interesting with Aaron Rodgers, he said he was
ninety percent retired, he still could because as the Packers
have the leverage here, they keep pushing back. We want
first round picks. Initially, Tom Pellicero reported it's not first
(27:02):
round picks. Mike Florio reporting now it is first round picks.
So believe who you want. Obviously, compensation is the big
hold up, and the Jets don't have the leverage. They
don't have a quarterback. So I mean, j Mac, you're
a big Jets fan today, you gotta take Aaron or Lamar.
Let's just say it's an aeron issue. Just think about this,
(27:24):
so do you. I tend to believe what the Packers
are doing now is like they didn't have leverage for
years with Aaron, right, and they were kind of timid
and very cautious. Leroy Butler came on the show yesterday
and said, finally they pushed back. But what's interesting now
is they have leverage and what they I wonder if
(27:46):
they're in the recesses of their mind. They're thinking, Listen,
we heard Aaron say on that show, on the YouTube show,
I was ninety percent retired. So as Green Bay thinking,
I'm gonna use that against Aaron push delay. But what
if Aaron just says I'm out, I'm duck. If you're
(28:06):
ninety percent retired and you don't have a new job yet,
though it's close and it gets frustrating, would you consider
just walking away? So this is a tough one because
it's something you just said just stuck in my head.
So the Jets GM, Joe Douglas and the assistant GM
both spent a lot of time in Baltimore. Yeah, okay.
(28:28):
You also said, and I think everybody would agree I
don't totally but that the Packers have leverage. So how
can the Jets grab back the leverage? How do they
gain it back? Well, I would run over to one
of these reporters, Glazers, chef to Rappaport. Hey, Jets have
a deep the front Jets front office is deep knowledge
of the Ravens. They like Lamar Jackson, they know his work, ethic,
(28:50):
blah blah blah, And all of a sudden, the Jets
have another option, right because right now they have no options.
You're saying it, Zach Wilson. Why aren't they creating that
they have another option with Lamar Jackson? Is it because
the front office knows something about Lamar and does not
want to get in Lamar Jackson business because that's the
easy way to gain back leverage. Hey, we really want
Aaron Rodgers. Oh, by the way, this Lamar Jackson guy
(29:10):
who's thirteen years younger than m won An MVP recently. Yeah,
he's available. We'll make a play for him. Why are
they not making a move on Lamar Jackson? Give me
the answer. I think they believe they'd rather make a
two year bet with Aaron Rodgers instead of a four
year bet with injury prone Lamar in their world, because
if you make a bet with Lamar, more of it
(29:30):
is guaranteed the injury prone. Are we sure? Well, I'm
just saying the twenty two starts, he's missed forty percent
of them, ten of them. So last twenty two Raven
games he's missed ten, so it's something okay, But time
I remember late in the season, Schefter reported he was
going to be coming back like Christmas Eve or the
day after Christmas and then he just never came back.
Is that about the contract or was the injury that serious?
(29:50):
Either one? I don't like. I don't like either answer. Okay,
were in the playoff hunt, he threw a tantrum. Okay,
let me let me ask you. If you're Baltimore and
the Jets make a move on him, they have the
fifteenth pick, that's not bad, but like, are you just
letting Lamar Jackson walk out the door? You're gonna make
(30:10):
a move and get him because guess what, there's a
chance Peter King said he don't want to play for
that thirty two million dollars nine. He doesn't. So my
takeaway is, I would I move him for a first
round pick? I would sign Lamar. I think he's really exceptional.
Who another team or the Ravens. No, if I was
the Ravens, I would sign him in a division with
Joe Burrow. They tried though, well, they've made their first
(30:31):
offer and if there is a market. The question is
if there's a market for Lamar, then he's gonna get
one hundred and seventy five million or something there about,
and he'll be happier. But what if he doesn't get
a market and for the record, it's drying up. Are
the Jets the last team at the Jet hear what
he wants because you're saying one hundred and seventy five million,
that sounds great. Would you do three years? The number
(30:53):
I keep hearing is right the exclusive tag. It's somewhere
in the forty five fifty mill right, somewhere in that range.
So say we'll guarantee you three years at one hundred
fifty mill. That's three years fifty fifty fifty, and when
you turn like twenty nine and a half thirty, you'll
come back for another bite at the apple in another contract.
Would Lamar Jackson do that? I don't know. He doesn't talk.
(31:14):
That's the problem. We have no idea what he wants.
So pivot back to Aaron Rodgers today. So Aaron says,
I think talking on the YouTube hurt him a little.
He basically told you I was going to retire. Well,
green Bay now has that a knowledge. So Green Bay
is like, we're really I'm not saying they're tormenting him,
but their takeaway is we're in no hurry. The way
(31:35):
the bonus sets up, we can pay it in September.
So Green Bay now can kind of toy with Aaron,
and I do think in the building there's a little
animosity toward him. I mean, let's be honest. He came
out of that retreat and said he was surprised they
move off him. But that's recent. What about the MVPs
in the Super Bowl, in the NFC Championship case. Listen,
your wife can treat your grape, she treats you bad
(31:56):
for a month. That's what you're living in. That's your reality.
The reality now was green Bay Fields ignored and manipulated
and marginalized for the last eight to nine weeks. Can
he fix that now while he's still on his way out.
You can fix anything. Ay, everything's fixable. But right now
green Bay leverage toy make Aaron Waite. It's a plan.
(32:21):
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. Jason
Light smart guy runs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You know,
they look like they're in no man's land today. Brady's retired,
they don't have an offensive coach. They don't have a
quarterback Baker Mayfield, I guess is it, although it looks
(32:42):
like a backup role or backup contract. So here's Jason
Light talking about the Buccaneers going all in. If I
go back in time, I would do it all again.
We pushed, We've borrowed about one hundred million dollars against
this year's cap and future cap to do what we did.
(33:03):
Came close the second time. But you know, if anybody
wants to criticize what they did, they can come to
any of our three homes and look at our rings.
So we're happy about that, listen. So, and we're going
to pursue another one too. Listen. They've rarely they're an
relevant franchise buy and large, weird at quarterback, never consistent
in their the gap between their eighteen Super bowls, they
(33:27):
got the two playoff games and lost both. So the
Buccaneers are a small market, sort of a loose, small
pirate ship of a franchise, mostly forgettable. So for them
to go all in I completely absolutely buy into. I
think it was the right thing to do. They may
not win another Super Bowl for eighteen years unless they
get Kayleb Williams from USC but that's okay, that's the
(33:48):
franchise they are. It's not an iconic brand. It's not Duke, Yankees, Packers, Niners, Steelers,
it's not you know, the Rams decided to go all
in two and they may may be better. In fact,
they will be better this year than Tampa, but I
don't I'm interested to see how that plays out. USC's
football stadium got very empty, very quickly. This is a
(34:11):
not a one horsetown like Tampa. I mean, the Rays
draw flies, so it's basically a one horsetown with the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And the Rays are over in Saint
Pete so a lot of people won't drive over the
bridge to get there. So it's Tampa's really big show
in town. LA is different. You got to be good.
The Dodgers are always good, Lincoln Riley, you got the
Lakers and the Clippers. You've got pro soccer teams NHL.
(34:35):
I think the Bucks are fascinating. They went all in
in a very distracted town that forgets about you very quickly.
So the Rams going all in, I get it. I
think they're happy with it, and I do think if
Stafford plays this year and his upright they're gonna buy
for a playoff. But Tampa, I will defend the very
end about going for it. That franchise has never been relevant.
(34:57):
You absolutely go for it. If you're the Jets with
Aaron Rodgers, go for it. You're not as big as
the Giants, you're not as big as the Yankees, you're
not as iconic as the Knicks. You go for it.
Tampa goes for it, Carolina go for it. Rams little
dicier proposition. I think they'll rebound, but if they don't,
people forget about you in this city very quickly. Be
(35:20):
sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in
noon Easter not a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS
one and the iHeartRadio app. Mark Schlareth, we never forget
about him, three rings, multiple time Pro Bowler. So you're
in Denver. I was talking to a friend a couple
days ago, and I said, the one team in the
league you know free agency, about thirty five percent of
(35:42):
them hit, about sixty five percent don't. The one team
I absolutely know will be better is Denver. I thought,
as a former offensive lineman, I think they've done a
good job. How's it landing in Denver? Oh, I think
it's in Denver right now. People are pretty excited about it.
And I think, you know, one of the tech to
my radio show texted this in so I can't take
(36:02):
credit for it, but he was one hundred percent right.
The Devi Broncos has spent a quarter of a billion
dollars to overcome the quarter of a billion dollar mistake
they made last year. It's all about mitigating Russell Wilson
and not making Russell Wilson win the game for you.
It's getting back to what Russell Wilson does well. Is
controlling the line of scrimmage. It's running the ball, is
(36:25):
using multiple tight end sets, it's having a real life fullback.
It's about football players. And anytime you talk to Sean Payton,
you meet with Sean Payton, he'll sit there and say, man,
I like this football player. This football player, this football player.
It's not about athletes. And I think one of the
things that Sean Payton did was a real evaluation of
this roster, like a real football coach evaluation of the roster,
(36:48):
and where a lot of people were saying over the
last couple of years, all this roster is really good.
They're only a quarterback away. They're just a quarterback away.
I was saying, hey, listen, they've gone after athletes, they
haven't gone after football players. And there is a big difference.
In my mind, call him. Football is easy for football players.
It's really difficult for athletes. And I think that's why
(37:10):
you look at the trading block right now. You look
at all the receivers on the Broncos receiving corps, all
of them are up for trade right now. He is
trying to move pieces. He is trying to get real
live football players, to slow this game down, to condense
this game, take some of that pressure off Russell Wilson.
So the Jets Green Bay situation is interesting. Aaron's good,
(37:31):
he's polarizing. So it's been dominating our show, perhaps not
as much today. I you know, for years and years
there was this sense that if you were the union
leader on your team, it was not good for your career.
That the owners had a long memory, and many good
players Kevin Mwhi, a lot of good guys that were
(37:52):
union leaders suddenly didn't get the contract offers. And so
you know, never forget who runs the league gets the
she yield. That's the owners. So Green Bay's got the
leverage with the Jets and they're in absolutely apparently no
hurry to make a move. Do you think deep down
they feel marginalized and manipulated the last two years and
(38:15):
they're doing this for a reason. They don't have to hurry,
and they're gonna make Aaron suffer a little. I don't
know that they want to make him suffer, but they
definitely want to try to maximize the value. So then
you have to ask yourself what is the value? What
is the value in regards to draft picks and potential
compensation from that standpoint versus the value of just getting
(38:37):
that number off your salary cap. And so you know,
I think the Jets are playing that game. Like a dude,
you can't carry that number on your salary cap. So
eventually you've got to make a deal with us, and
we're not going to give you the capital that maybe
the Broncos gave a thirty four year old quarterback in
Russell Wilson last year, I think thirty three at the time,
turn thirty four, but you know, Roger's about to turn forty.
(39:00):
So I think there's that game of chicken that's being
played right now. I think Eventually they'll, you know, they'll
figure out what that fair compensation is. But I just
don't think it's the same market from a compensation standpoint
in regards to draft picks and players than it was
last year for a younger quarterback in Wilson, even though
Aaron Rodgers is far more accomplished. If you were the Packers,
(39:24):
I'm the Jets, what would you demand? What do you
think is fair value for Aaron? You're the GM of
the Packers. I just don't think you're gonna get multiple
first round picks. I think a first round pick, you know,
maybe a player to be named, maybe a third rounder
to go with it. Like that to me feels like
(39:45):
that's fair compensation. So I just don't think it's multiple
picks for a guy that maybe plays one maybe two
years more. So listen, I'm I'm all in on Aaron
Rodgers going to the Jets. I think the Jets are
a good young football team. I love Robert Solid, their
head coach. I think he gets the most out of
his players. They've got a great defense, and they've got
(40:07):
some good young, offensive, talented players. And so I look
at this, you push it into the middle, you do
what Tampa Bay. Did you go out there and you
see if you can't win a super Bowl. I think
that's a I think that's a fair expectation to either
compete for that division title or at least be a
wild card team and get yourself in his playoffs. But
(40:27):
the bottom line is, I just think from a compensation standpoint,
they're not gonna get the whole that maybe Seattle got
from Denver last year. Lamar Jackson, if you look at
his last thirty four starts, he scored two touchdowns per
game sixty one and he's twenty four and twelve. That's
the last thirty six, so maybe it was twenty. Whatever
(40:50):
the number was. He wins two out of three games.
I in a division with Joe Burrow and the owa's
consistent Steelers and Deshaun Watson, I would resign him. But
it doesn't. I mean, Baltimore is basically saying, kid, go
to the market, get an offer. We don't think there's
gonna be a bidding war. What if there is no
bidding war? I mean, I'll just ask you, what would
(41:14):
you do GM of the Ravens, what would you do well?
I think they're playing at the Ravens are playing it
exceptionally well. They're saying, go out there, see what's out there.
You know, if you can get a big time contract,
at least we're gonna get compensated for it. But we
don't believe the market for you is what you think
the market is for you. Now, one thing I do know.
You know, the latest report was a three year, fully
(41:36):
guaranteed contract at one hundred and thirty three million dollars.
I believe like forty four and change a year. Right,
let me tell you what never happens. Players don't release
information and agents don't release information on contracts that they're
not planning to sign. So there's always whenever I hear
those numbers, I always saying, okay, but what else? Like
(41:58):
what are we not hearing? So what are the you know,
what's the fine prints say toward the end of that
contract or the end is there? They're added years? What
else is going on that we're not getting? Are their
options on that? So I don't know exactly what that is,
but I think the Baltimore Ravens are basically saying, hey man,
you know, you've got to understand that the style with
(42:20):
which you play has proven not to be a style
in which you can stay healthy. The last two years,
he's played twelve games each year in a seventeen game season. Um,
I'm no mathematician, but that's missing five games. And listen,
I look at that style and say, until you can
prove that that style can win us a championship and
(42:40):
that you can stay healthy with that heavy run quarterback
run offense, Um, we're just not going to reward you
with one of those Deshaun Watson deals. Not that anybody's
gonna write another Deshaun Watson deal. I mean, for crying
out loud, I think everybody's ticked off at Jimmy Haslem
for writing that deal. So the other thing, Jimmy, like,
(43:01):
at some point when you're a billionaire, don't you change
your name from Jimmy James. Yeah, I think you grow
up a little bit. They just grow up a little
bit and quick, quick giving off those contracts. But the
bottom line, I don't think any owner is going to
play that game. And I think they're all kissed off
with Jimmy Hasm Mark Schlareth, multiple rings, multiple Pro Bowls,
he's stopping buy in Denver. Good good. I think Chicago's
(43:23):
helped themselves and the Broncos in the AFC have helped
themselves noticeably. Good seeing you, Mark, you two go, I'll
take everybody
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Jason McIntyre
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