0:00

Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast.

0:02

Be sure to catch us live every weekday from

0:04

twelve to three eastern nine to noon

0:06

Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Find

0:09

your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio

0:11

dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio

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app by searching Herd. This

0:16

is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern

0:19

on Fox Sports Radio. He's

0:23

just amazing. Lebron had forty night points

0:25

last night. He flexed. Imagine

0:28

driving to work for

0:31

seventeen years. Half my audience, over

0:33

half my audience listens to me, not watches

0:35

me. They listen on radio or a podcast. So

0:37

if you're driving to work now, imagine driving

0:39

to work for seventeen years knowing

0:42

you have to carry everybody

0:45

again today or tonight, Meet

0:48

Lebron James. He

0:50

steps off the floor, and that's playing

0:53

with Anthony Davis, somebody that you

0:55

keep telling me is the second or third best player

0:57

in the league. Lebron steps off the floor

1:00

and the Laker offense dies, it

1:02

evaporates. He

1:05

gives you everything. Lebron can

1:07

do mid range, he'll hit a three, he

1:09

can penetrate, he can distribute. You

1:11

need a rebound. This year he decided to lead

1:13

the league and assists. He is an

1:16

unbelievable talent and last

1:18

night was a flex. The NBA

1:21

is full of guys who were long and athletic,

1:23

and they've got one special skill. But

1:25

the league. Everybody in this league except Lebron

1:28

has a hold in their game. Kawhi

1:30

Leonard doesn't pass. The

1:32

Raptors were seventeen and five last

1:35

year when he didn't play.

1:38

Jannis can't shoot. He's not a

1:40

great shooter. He's got great length,

1:42

coachable energy. Damian

1:44

Lillard tiny, he's a defensive

1:46

liability. James Harden what

1:49

about him? Have you watched May the last

1:51

four years? Anthony Davis I

1:54

don't even trust him physically. He got hurt

1:56

again last night. Anthony

1:59

Davis was a new for seven years.

2:02

He had a playoff win one

2:05

series one time, and it was

2:07

mostly a series in which the Guards were

2:09

great against Dame and CJ. McCullough. You

2:12

know, the knock on Lebron has always been this, well, you know

2:14

he comes to your team, I

2:16

mean he just takes the team over. Yeah,

2:19

that's because he can do everything. That's

2:22

because he is the greatest Swiss army knife

2:24

in the history of the sport. I've

2:27

been watching basketball since nineteen seventy two.

2:30

I remember the year. I remember the game Portland Trailblazers,

2:32

Los Angeles Lakers. Wilt had a head

2:34

band. Jerry West was there too. I remember the game

2:37

was on a bunk bed top bunk. I watched that CBS.

2:39

Brett Musbriger played by play. Remember

2:42

the game. There's never been a basketball

2:44

player like Lebron ever, not Michael. Michael

2:46

couldn't shoot threes like this. Michael couldn't

2:48

pass like this. Michael wasn't as strong as

2:51

this. Michael didn't last like this. Michael

2:53

didn't make everybody better. Michael

2:56

Jordan went eight years between the James

2:58

Worthy title and the Scott Pippoh

3:00

emergence without winning a title,

3:02

not even getting the finals. In fact,

3:04

he got beat by North Carolina State. He

3:07

didn't have the best college team in his own state. Mulvano

3:09

beat him once James Worthy left. I

3:14

mean, come on, this is

3:16

you keep telling me about how Trey Young

3:19

can shoot. So this

3:21

league's got a bunch of talented guys that can do

3:23

stuff at a really high level. Damian

3:26

Lillard watch him live, Yo, whoa

3:28

get a bucket, dude, Plea's a defensive liability,

3:30

can't stop anybody. He's tiny. I

3:32

mean, Lebron James is Kawhi

3:35

Leonard is the second best player in the league, and the

3:37

Raptors are a number two seed without him,

3:39

and we're seventeen and five last year when

3:42

he didn't play. Laker's

3:44

offense is unwatchable the

3:47

second Lebron steps off the floor. You

3:49

all told me Kyrie Irving man,

3:52

he needs Remember when this used to be an argument.

3:54

I mean, I'm not joking, this used to be an argument. Hey,

3:57

what has Lebron done? You

3:59

know in Cleveland without

4:01

Kyrie? Have you

4:04

watched Kyrie's acts since Lebron and

4:06

him separated. He's

4:08

hurt again and uncoachable

4:11

again. And Brooklyn's got a better record

4:13

when he doesn't play again,

4:15

and Boston now is way better without

4:17

him. Y'all kept telling me it was a Kyrie

4:20

thing. Kyrie's career borders

4:22

on bust as a number one pick.

4:25

If you take the Lebron years out. People

4:27

were saying before Lebron got there, uncoachable,

4:29

always hurt, nobody likes him. Lebron

4:32

left all that stuff come back, nobody likes

4:34

him. Uncoachable, doesn't win, and he's hurt

4:36

again as a number one pick Kyrie's

4:38

career. Take Lebron out. He's

4:41

just gifted. Like

4:43

the rest of this league. You can't get to

4:45

this league without being gifted. You

4:48

just can't get it. I I mean, it's it's the I mean, I've

4:50

gone to events that have had

4:52

baseball players and hockey players and

4:55

basketball players, NBA players and NFL players.

4:57

NBA players just look different, the length,

4:59

the side eyes. I mean, they're just they're

5:01

just gifted. And they're all great

5:05

at something, and several are like out

5:07

of this world at something like Damian Lillard shooting,

5:09

Steph Curry shooting. But to watch Lebron

5:11

last night, he does everything

5:13

well last night. He's

5:16

an old man. He had seventeen

5:18

fast break points.

5:21

That's like an old man got up to Usain

5:23

Bolt and go, excuse me, young man, I'm gonna

5:25

I'm gonna be in lane three running past

5:27

him. He had seventeen fast break points,

5:30

sou. And you know what's

5:32

funny about that's for years and years you

5:34

kept telling me about Anthony Davis. Okay, you kept telling

5:36

me about him, and I like Anthony Davis. I think he's the top five

5:39

or six player in the league. But when you put

5:41

Anthony Davis and Lebron together on

5:43

the same team, you

5:46

guys see the gap, right Like

5:48

Anthony Davis sixtieth

5:51

in the NBA and fourth quarter scoring last

5:54

night, Anthony Davis six for twenty

5:56

last night, Anthony Davis hurt again. When you put

5:58

Lebron and a d on the same floor,

6:02

it is the grand canyon

6:04

of a gap. You can keep hayting

6:07

on this guy and criticizing this guy. I

6:09

mean, old man flex last night.

6:12

Good for Lebron. Okay,

6:15

here is um, here's

6:18

a rule, and I'm gonna say it. Who

6:20

is Nick Saban's best friend and

6:22

coaching joy Bill Belichick.

6:25

Winners like winners. Winners

6:28

don't like hanging around losers. Winners don't

6:30

hit like hanging around mediocre people. Stars

6:33

hang out with stars, Winners hang

6:35

out with winners. And

6:38

the NBA more than any

6:40

league in the world. Maybe

6:42

international soccer is close is

6:45

a star driven league. Lebron

6:48

stayed in Cleveland for years and then he went

6:50

to the Olympics. He's like, I

6:52

mean, I can play, I can play with guys

6:54

like that, And Lebron came back to Cleveland he's

6:57

like, oh, I'll go play with Dwayne Wade and

6:59

Chris Bosh. Lebron

7:01

for years stayed in Cleveland and he was loyal

7:03

and he didn't leave, and then

7:05

he started sampling playing with other great players.

7:07

It's like, damn, You're going from like

7:10

a steak, Like that's a steakhouse

7:12

and just getting a steak. You can go to a lot of

7:14

restaurants and get a steak, But you go to a good steakhouse

7:16

and get a steak. You're like that. You stop

7:19

going to the other restaurants that also have steak on the menu,

7:21

but they're not steakhouses. So um,

7:24

Jannis is a star. We

7:26

know Milwaukee does not attract free agents.

7:28

It doesn't. It's like Utah. It's a

7:30

great NBA franchise, but they don't try

7:32

free agents. Here's a rumor

7:35

and it's not a bad one, and

7:37

I believe it to be true. The

7:40

Warriors acquired Andrew Wiggins

7:42

for one reason to get Yannis.

7:46

Remember, Wiggins

7:48

makes a lot of money. In order

7:50

to trade for Yannis, you have to have a

7:53

huge salary. Wiggins

7:56

makes a lot of money. They're also

7:58

going to have the number one pick in the draft

8:01

and Minnesota's pick, which will be a lottery

8:03

pick. Can Milwaukee

8:06

do better than Andrew Wiggins and two lottery

8:08

picks? I'll

8:11

say it again, the

8:14

key to this league because

8:16

this would change the league. If he goes to Golden

8:18

State, it will change the league.

8:21

You thought Durant and the Warriors

8:24

were good. Durant gone,

8:27

Yannis, Staff, Draymond and

8:29

Clay No, thank you that

8:32

You might as well just set your clock to those

8:34

guys in the finals. If

8:36

Chris Middleton, If Chris Middleton

8:38

for Milwaukee does

8:40

what he did last year in the playoffs and shrinks,

8:43

Yannis is gone. Winners

8:46

want to hang out with winners. Stars

8:48

want to hang out with stars Belichick

8:51

and Saban. Belichick has to go to college to

8:53

find the guy he wants to hang out with. Saban's

8:56

got to go to the pros to find the guy

8:58

he wants to talk to. Winners

9:00

hang out with winners. Last

9:03

year, Chris Middleton in

9:05

that series against Toronto, had one game

9:07

over fourteen points. We

9:10

know about the NBA,

9:12

the refs joint I talk about this. The refs

9:14

swallow the whistle. The refs don't

9:16

want to get in the way of the series. And so

9:18

what happens in the NBA playoffs. Guys

9:21

who are not comfortable in that physical space,

9:24

they shrink. James Harden shrinks. People

9:27

play real defense and the refs swallow

9:29

the whistle, So James Harden doesn't get the call

9:31

in the playoffs. He's a great player, but he's

9:34

not as dominant in the playoffs. Paul

9:36

George is a very talented player, doesn't

9:39

always like the physicality of it. Paul

9:42

George shrinks in the playoffs. Now Kauhi

9:44

can be physical, Lebron can be physical, d

9:46

Wade physical, Paul Pierce

9:49

could be physical. The late Kobe could

9:51

be physical. Shot could be physical. Those

9:53

guys don't shrink in the playoffs. The NBA

9:55

playoffs, reffs swallow whistles.

9:58

It's a players in a stars lead. Young

10:00

guys shrink, and guys that don't like physicality

10:03

shrink. Chris Middleton

10:05

shrinks. Remember last year against

10:07

Toronto, Milwaukee up two oh, series

10:10

over, game three, wins, series over, Chris

10:13

Middleton was three for sixteen. Evaporated

10:17

folks. That happens again. Jannis is out. Stars,

10:19

hang with stars, winners, hang with winners.

10:21

He's not sticking around in Milwaukee with

10:23

Chris Middleton, who's a nice kid and a twenty

10:26

a night regular season player. But

10:29

you get to the postseason. Boston plays

10:31

defense and gets physical. Toronto plays

10:33

defense and gets physical. Okay, Philadelphia's

10:36

got size and can be physical. Get ready

10:38

for it, Milwaukee, this

10:41

rumor, Golden State

10:43

could offer perhaps the number one

10:45

pick, another lottery pick, and Andrew

10:47

Wiggins salary matches up and

10:50

right now, never forget this. This

10:52

is why and this will change the league. Yannis, We'll go

10:54

from Chris Middleton's my number two to Steph

10:57

is my number two, Clay is my number

10:59

three, and him on his my number four. That

11:01

is a five year dynasty. That that is. You don't

11:03

want any part of that. That would go down

11:06

as potentially that would rival

11:08

Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippins, Bulls.

11:10

That one. You'd be like, Okay, they shoot

11:12

better than the Bulls, they're better inside than

11:14

the Bulls, and they got a great coach. That

11:16

would be an all time team. And

11:19

Jannis knows it. And don't kid yourself.

11:22

The timing is perfect. Think about this. Lebron

11:25

has left the East. This is why Milwaukee

11:27

has to win now. They have to win

11:30

the East Lebron left the East, Kawhi

11:33

left the East. The Sixers

11:36

are gifted but dysfunctional. KD

11:39

this year is hurt. This

11:43

is the year Middleton

11:47

shrinks, Yannis would

11:49

be out of his mind. Not

11:52

to side an extension,

11:55

he'd be out of his mind. He's a smart kid, by

11:57

the way. He's done everything you've asked of him in Milwau.

12:00

Don't blame him. He's done everything. And maybe I'm wrong,

12:02

Maybe he just signs it an extension tomorrow to put

12:04

these things to rest. But

12:06

Milwaukee does not attract free agents. And if

12:08

I can go from Chris Middleton's my two to staff

12:12

and then Clay and Draymond, I'm

12:14

going seventy four and eight

12:19

said, what's seventy four plus

12:21

eight is sixty eighty two. Yes,

12:24

that's my record. So I think this

12:26

story is real. I

12:28

think the window is now. If

12:30

Milwaukee cannot win the

12:32

East with Katie out, Lebron,

12:35

Kawhi out, Sixers talented

12:37

but dysfunctional, you can't win it this

12:39

year. It's not getting easier. All those

12:41

good Celtic players, Jason Tatum's twenty

12:43

one, he got Jaylen Brown,

12:45

they are all getting better. Jason Tatum

12:48

has made a huge leap this year from

12:50

year one to year two. I mean he is a top

12:52

seven player in the league. That kid can put it on the

12:54

deck. He can shoot, he can score, he can drive. Jason

12:57

Tatum, Now you're not getting worse. He is going to

12:59

be a star. Are for a decade? Jaylen

13:01

Brown, Now Kyrie is gone. Given your twenty

13:05

These young Celtics are only getting better.

13:07

And they drafted like you know what, so

13:10

they're just and they have picks. I

13:13

am so fired up today. He

13:15

definitely are. Be sure to catch live editions

13:18

of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine

13:20

Ampacific on Fox Sports

13:22

Radio FS one and the iHeart

13:24

Radio app the combines this week. Let's

13:26

just all agree on something. This

13:29

whole sport is about talent

13:31

acquisition, and what

13:33

you're trying to do is fine players

13:35

that they can they can, that are talented,

13:38

and they work together. It's not just about he's great.

13:40

He's great, he's great. You have to find the pieces

13:42

that fit together. And

13:45

we also know that quarterback is

13:48

very, very important. It's

13:50

the most important position. Now we so far

13:52

you and I agree on this, but here's

13:55

here's the difference. You think

13:58

most of America thinks if you're back

14:00

wins, that's good enough. Oh,

14:04

that's adorable. You're one of those guys that's put on forty

14:06

pounds and just loosen the belt

14:08

up. That good enough. It's

14:10

not good enough. It's not

14:12

good enough. Winning

14:18

is what lousy franchises.

14:20

Oh my god, we won nine games in

14:22

Buffalo right now, winning

14:25

games. No, New England,

14:27

it's winning titles. The Yankees,

14:29

it's winning titles. And he read it's winning

14:31

titles. Philadelphia Eagles want to win titles.

14:33

New York Giants want to win titles. The Packers

14:35

want to win tire Aaron Rodgers is above winning

14:37

games. Russell Wilson's moved past

14:40

winning games. It's about winning championships.

14:43

Winners do. Okay. The

14:45

Detroit Lines, here's a stat for you. The

14:48

Detroit Lines have the number three pick. The

14:51

most game changing

14:53

talented person available is twa that's

14:55

not that's not disputable. These

14:57

other cornerbacks pass rushers, they're

15:00

not taking seventy snaps. So

15:03

Detroit's like, well, Matt Stafford is talented,

15:06

all right, but he's not

15:08

a winner. And he's definitely not

15:10

a winner against really good competition.

15:13

In the last eleven years two thousand

15:15

and nine, he's won twelve

15:18

percent of his games, eight and fifty

15:20

five against playoff

15:22

teams. Folks,

15:24

if you are his cousin, you'd say, we

15:26

got to move off Matt Stafford. Not

15:29

only does he not win this

15:32

idea. If it's

15:34

just about talent in this league, it's

15:36

not it's about quarterback fit.

15:39

It's not even just about winning. If

15:41

it's about winning, Kansas City never

15:43

moves off Alex Smith. They

15:46

never move off Alex Smith. Baltimore

15:48

doesn't move off Joe Flacco. But

15:51

Alex and Flacco could no longer

15:54

beat consistently the really

15:56

good teams and

15:59

win. In January,

16:01

Matt Stafford doesn't win divisions. Matt Stafford

16:03

can't beat twelve percent, can't beat playoff

16:06

teams. Just because he's

16:08

the best you've ever had, doesn't mean

16:10

he's the best you can have. Story

16:13

came out yesterday on Tuah. Following

16:17

two days of medical testing. Tuah

16:20

has received overwhelmingly positive

16:22

reports on his dislocated hip. MRIs

16:26

were clean, fracture is healed,

16:29

no loss of blood flow. One

16:31

source said Tuah quote looked

16:34

great. Unquote. Now

16:37

Detroit's Bob Quinn doubled down yesterday.

16:39

We're not trading Matt Stafford. Who

16:41

says you have to trade him.

16:44

Alex Smith wasn't

16:46

traded. They drafted Mahomes

16:49

for a year then moved

16:52

off him. Don't trade Matt Stafford.

16:55

You draft Tuah, You mentor

16:57

Tua, you developed Tuah, you

17:00

watch Tah. But

17:02

Detroit look at winning franchises,

17:06

Baltimore winners,

17:08

Kansas City winners, great

17:11

ownership. You do not

17:13

pass on a Lamar

17:16

jackson of Patrick Mahomes. Why

17:21

are you so gun shy. Yeah,

17:23

he's the best you've had. He's not

17:25

the best you could have. Go

17:28

ahead, stay with older. Can't

17:31

win a division, can't beat playoff teams.

17:33

Matt Stafford, fine, I got nothing against him if

17:35

you're petrified of the salary cap. But

17:38

you've got to have higher standards

17:40

in this sport. A corner from

17:42

Ohio State. I'm not changing

17:45

anything in your division. That's

17:47

not changing anything that

17:50

you still don't have a roster that's close to Minnesota.

17:52

You don't have a cornerback that's

17:54

like Aaron Rodgers or Frankly green

17:57

Bay's rosters now pretty good. I

18:01

mean it's go give that number again. This

18:03

is against playoff teams. Matt

18:07

Stafford eight and fifty five. Come

18:09

on now, I'll get to Derek car stuff

18:11

later. I like Derek, I love

18:13

him. I like him, But come on, eight

18:16

and fifty five. Two is there? Two

18:20

is coming out of college higher rated than the

18:22

homes more people want to Ah, there's gonna

18:24

be multiple teams moving up to I don't

18:26

get it. You know, sometimes I have

18:29

sympathy, you know, orphans, burn victims. You

18:31

know, I have sympathy for people to have bad breaks.

18:33

But I don't have a ton of sympathy for

18:36

people who have opportunities and

18:38

keep passing on them. I've run out of sympathy

18:41

for the Cleveland Browns. Carson

18:43

Wentz not interested. Okay,

18:46

I mean again, I lose sympathy

18:49

when you have something on a plate handed

18:51

to you and you're arrogant or

18:54

fearful Detroit. You pass

18:56

on to a no

18:59

sympathy because he is there, he

19:01

is healthy, he is great. He

19:04

was great as a fresh but in the SEC, the

19:06

best defensive college in college football,

19:08

there's not even anything close to the SEC plays

19:11

defense nothing, He's even close in college football.

19:13

He walked in and owned it. You

19:15

love Joe Burrow. He

19:18

couldn't win a job in the Big ten. He

19:20

struggled as a junior, and you love

19:22

him too. Was great as a nineteen

19:25

year old. Be sure to catch live editions of The

19:27

Herd weekday, said noon Easter, nine am

19:29

Pacific. It was about a year ago that

19:33

one of the broadcasters at the other

19:35

company, a company I used to work for and then upgraded.

19:37

They had Paul Pierson and Paul Pierce was talking

19:39

about Zion and Paul Pierce is a former

19:42

great player, played at Kansas. He was a Celtic

19:44

guy. Loved Paul Pierce, Hall of Famer to me, great player,

19:46

Love Paul and Paul and on the air and he said,

19:48

you know, I think Zion is going to be a top fifty player.

19:52

It was like, top fifty. He's

19:54

gonna walk into this league, be a hell of a lot better than

19:56

that. So here's what I said

19:58

when Paul Pierce said, top fifty player,

20:01

first in the league, top

20:03

fifty. Of course he's a top

20:06

fifty player. The question

20:08

is he a top twenty basketball player in the

20:10

world. Great passer, excellent

20:13

touch, absurdly

20:16

transcendent speed

20:18

for his size. Top fifty.

20:21

Obviously I

20:23

was crushed for that. I

20:25

said, the question is is he going to be a top twenty

20:27

player? Bloggers,

20:30

that's very hurtful. There were months

20:32

I could not sleep. Bloggers, substantial

20:35

bloggers, people living not only

20:37

in their mother's basement but in the attic as well,

20:39

really took shots at me. Here's one

20:41

of the headlines from a very

20:44

popular blogger, Colin Coward

20:46

is wrong. And they started listing

20:48

twenty five players better than Zion Williamson.

20:50

One of them was Gordon Hayward. Seriously

20:54

sorry, sorry to laugh on the air last

20:58

night against the longest team in the NBA, JaVale

21:00

McGee, Dwight Howard, Anthony Davis, Lebron James.

21:03

He dropped the pedestrian twenty nine, went

21:05

to the free throw line seventeen

21:08

times. Yeah,

21:13

he's nineteen, he's a year at

21:15

a high school. He's getting

21:18

better. He's played thirteen games twelve. He's

21:20

been exceptional. He's

21:22

unrefined, he's raw. You

21:26

keep talking yourself out of Zion Williamson.

21:28

You sell that stock, bra I'll buy it.

21:31

You start listing guys today

21:34

in the NBA you wouldn't trade for. And by

21:36

the way, if you owned a team, you

21:39

do it tomorrow. Because that kid is a tendance ratings

21:41

discussion. Last year, I had almost three hundred

21:44

and fifty million views on Facebook.

21:47

You know how I am gonna have this year, probably more

21:50

and thirty fifty million are gonna be on

21:52

Zion. I didn't talk about Anthony Davis

21:54

twice in seven years in New Orleans. You

21:57

wouldn't trade Anthony Davis resign. You're sure about

21:59

that? If you're an owner, you sure

22:01

about that. Oh well, Zion could get hurt.

22:04

Anthony Davis got hurt last night facing

22:06

Zion. Zion didn't get hurt. He

22:09

went right after him, and he's nineteen. I

22:12

know the limitations of Anthony Davis. He

22:14

hadn't proved he makes a team better. He hadn't

22:16

proved, he hadn't proved that he didn't

22:18

make New Orleans great. They want to one playoff game

22:21

and it was the guards, Rondo and Drew Holliday.

22:23

Who who really in that series? Shutdown?

22:25

Damon? CJ. Mccullott to some point, So

22:27

you start, you keep talking yourself out

22:29

of this. I got crushed for saying I think

22:31

he's gonna walk in and be a top twenty player. And

22:34

I don't have a list of top twenty players, but

22:36

right now, Ben simmons Or's ion, I'm taking

22:38

Zion Westbrooker's

22:42

ion. I'm taking Zion. You're not

22:44

Paul George's ion. I'm taking Zion.

22:48

This is how good he is at nineteen. I

22:50

mean, Lebron James faced him first time last

22:53

night. Here was Lebron James. He's got a pretty

22:55

good eye for talent. Here's what he thought. Yes,

22:58

wrestler, maybe we all know that, and every

23:00

game is gonna be another opportunity for him to get

23:02

better and a learning experience home. But it's

23:05

today's game where it's the track race,

23:07

it's the fast pace, is high temple. It

23:09

fits his game perfectly, and the way to day play. It fits

23:12

his game perfectly because they get the ball out first

23:14

eight seconds. They trying to score, score and score. So but

23:16

the kid is special man, and uh you know they got a

23:18

good one in him. And let me tell you something. They got Lonzo

23:20

Ball and Ingram the Pelicans just space

23:23

it out. You can't double him. And

23:25

so what Zion's game is, this

23:27

is where he's got a lot of Sean Kemp and I don't

23:29

think he'll ever be the gifted shooter

23:31

that Barkley was Barkley's an unbelievable

23:34

talent. He could big butt, score low,

23:36

mid range, fast break threes. Barkley

23:39

was insane. But there is this

23:41

kid is Sean Kemp with a

23:43

better touch. He's Sean Kemp

23:46

with a velvety touch. Um,

23:49

you keep selling it. I think he's I think he's remarkable

23:51

when you watch somebody in any

23:54

field in life. This is why I love two at

23:56

Alabama. Tua

23:58

was nineteen years old from

24:00

Hawaii, so they asked

24:02

two of they that brought him all the way to Alabama.

24:05

Forget the mainland. It's a long

24:07

flight to go from Honolulu to LA

24:09

They sent him to Alabama nineteen

24:11

years old, championship game. Hey, we needed to bail

24:13

us out. Boom. When

24:16

you're when you're Andre Agassie, it's sixteen

24:18

years old and you're beating twenty eight year

24:21

old pros zion.

24:23

Is this good now? He's

24:25

not even refined. He

24:27

hasn't even faced all the forwards in the league.

24:30

He's played thirteen games. One more. Heard

24:32

The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,

24:34

seven days a week within the iHeartRadio

24:36

app. Search Herd to listen live or

24:38

on demand whenever you like he

24:41

scouted for two of the best organizations in

24:43

the NFL, the Eagles and the Ravens. Also for

24:45

Cleveland now in the Chargers game, and

24:47

former college football player Daniel Jeremiah

24:50

joining me NFL network via the Coward Global Satellite

24:52

Network. Okay, I'm getting all sorts

24:54

of heat. Oh boy, they're

24:56

crushing me because I said yesterday,

24:59

Daniel, I said, listen, you

25:01

can't tell me. Hand size isn't something

25:04

you're gonna go to windy, rainy

25:07

Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, in Baltimore,

25:09

in Cleveland, Burrow's got a good

25:11

arm, but not special. He's got smaller

25:13

hands. Took till his fifth year to pop.

25:16

Is it unfair for me to say this about Joe

25:18

Burrow. I think he's a good prospect,

25:21

But I think Tua, if healthy,

25:23

is a great prospect. Is that

25:26

unfair? I

25:28

think it's unfair because when you look

25:30

at the two and if they were both totally healthy,

25:33

I would take the best of what I've seen from Joe

25:35

Burrow stacked up of what the best I've seen

25:37

from Tua, and I would give Burrow the edge.

25:39

Now we can go to the hand size thing. If

25:42

there was evidence on tape that that was an

25:44

issue. I would have more of a concern

25:46

if he grew up in San Diego instead

25:48

of Ohio and hadn't played in that

25:50

weather his entire life, it would be more of a concern.

25:53

But in this specific instance, I

25:55

don't really have any cause for concern in

25:57

those areas. Colin And to me, if you want

25:59

to talk about the evaluation of these two players, and I love

26:01

Tua, but if you look at

26:03

two guys that played on incredibly talented

26:06

football teams, how do you separate

26:08

him? How do you study him? You look at how they

26:10

played against great opponents, and you look at

26:12

how they played under pressure, and

26:14

in those two environments, everything

26:16

skews very heavily towards Joe Burrow.

26:19

But it took him until his last year.

26:22

They did have the best offensive line in the country.

26:25

It won the award. He has the second

26:27

best running back in this draft according

26:29

to scouts. He has the best undraftable

26:31

wide receiver. And he also had an NFL

26:34

coach in a very collegiate

26:36

conference, so he had a little bit of

26:39

you know, he had a little elevation in coaching.

26:42

Can I look at that Goo, Why did he take five

26:44

years to pop well?

26:46

I can look at it and explain it

26:49

right away to you because I talked to Joe Burrow about this exact

26:51

thing. And when you look at let's just look at

26:53

the LSU thing because he got beat

26:55

out by a player at Ohio

26:57

State who ended up being a first round pick in Haskins.

27:00

How many times have we seen college

27:02

coaches choose the wrong quarterback even though

27:04

he's been a good player. And Haskins through fifty touchdowns

27:07

and was very successful there. But we can

27:09

talk about Urban Meyer, you know, choosing

27:11

Tim Tebow over Cam Newton. That doesn't

27:13

necessarily mean what those guys are going to be at

27:15

the next level. So when I look at Burrow

27:18

getting to LSU Colin he showed

27:20

up to LSU as a transfer. He showed up

27:22

after the freshman had reported in fall

27:24

camp. This guy didn't get there and go through a spring

27:26

ball. He wasn't there over the summer. So

27:28

you get there, you've got to learn everything at that point in time

27:30

to got to learn your teammates plug and play.

27:33

And the biggest thing was they were in an

27:35

offense that they ran, which they were in

27:37

seven man protection. So Joe

27:39

Burrow does not have a huge arm I agree with you on

27:41

that that is the flaw. What he does have

27:44

his superhuman power is his vision.

27:46

So when you can release four and five guys out

27:49

into the route, he sees the whole field, He

27:51

sees it beautifully. He makes great decisions,

27:53

and he's accurate. They lived in six,

27:56

six and seven man protection in eighteen. Joe

27:58

Brady comes in there and says, wait a second, let's

28:01

unlock this super trait this kid has.

28:03

Let's get everybody out. And they were in five

28:05

man protection eighty plus percent of the time

28:08

and the rest is history. And he did it against top

28:10

ten team after top ten team after top

28:12

ten team. You have Jordan

28:14

Love again ahead of Justin Herbert.

28:17

Now I like Love. If you go

28:19

back in YouTube, I told the audience the YouTube

28:22

is sophomore year. He was a monster.

28:24

Statistically. You can make the argument

28:27

if his sophomore year was his junior

28:29

year, and his junior year was his sophomore

28:31

year, he'd be a top three pick and he was

28:33

that special with nobody around him. But

28:36

you have him over Justin Herbert. And

28:38

I am hearing so much criticism

28:41

of Herbert. Let's specifically talk

28:43

about not just Jordan, but Justin

28:45

Herbert. What scares you? What worries

28:47

you about the Oregon quarterback? Yeah?

28:50

Sure, First of all, a little bit up and down when you're

28:52

just talking about accuracy first and foremost,

28:54

but the biggest issue. And Herbert

28:57

has a lot of things going for him when you look at the size of the

28:59

arm strength. He's a great athlete,

29:01

he's a four oh student, he's intelligent. The

29:03

character, I mean, that's a lot in this kid's favor. But

29:06

he's not really a playmaker. He's not

29:08

really somebody when things go off script, is

29:10

he going to make something special happen? And

29:12

Colin, you know, when you look at the broader picture,

29:15

the college football game is giving us more

29:17

defensive lineman than offensive lineman on

29:19

a yearly basis true. So things are not

29:21

going to be as they're drawn up on the playsheet.

29:23

It's not going to always work like that. You've got to be

29:26

able to execute outside the offense.

29:28

And Justin Herbert is a little bit robotic

29:31

in that regard. So that to me,

29:33

Jordan Love, that's what he

29:35

excels at. You get off script, you get off

29:37

platform. He's a he's a

29:39

more loose, a more elastic thrower, or

29:41

as Herbert's a little muscle bound and a

29:43

little more rigid. You see, Love, man,

29:46

It is loose and he's explosive.

29:48

He can throw off his back leg. He can throw on

29:50

the move, right or left. He's just more of

29:52

a playmaker. He's not ready to play right away.

29:54

You know, I'd feel comfortable in a game tomorrow

29:57

with Herbert over Love. But if I'm

29:59

drafting my back for the next decade,

30:01

there's a lot more to work with in Jordan Love

30:03

in my opinion. Okay, so let's get off quarterback

30:06

for a second. Every draft has,

30:09

you know, one or two guys. I remember when Patrick

30:11

Willis got drafted years ago at an old Miss. He

30:13

was like the eleventh pick, and I remember being on another network

30:15

and I said, I'm not a scout, but

30:18

that kid is going to blow people up.

30:20

Like week one a preseason, Chase

30:23

young Is looks like to

30:25

me to be the guy that the scouts are like,

30:28

no doubt about it. So, but is

30:32

he an absolute luck? Are there flaws

30:34

in his game? Because I'm hearing this LT stuff,

30:36

I'm hearing that any flaws

30:39

here, Well, he's a little

30:41

bit tight, you know, He's not you know, when you talk about

30:43

some of the bendy edge rushers. When you look at the von

30:45

Miller's at De Marcus ware Tite players. He's

30:48

not gonna bend and wrap around the top of

30:50

his rush like some of those guys. But he's

30:52

extremely big, long, explosive.

30:54

He's skilled with his hands. I mean, Larry

30:57

Johnson, the d line coach at Ohio State,

30:59

Why an NFL team hasn't thrown gobs

31:01

of money at this guy to bring him in? Looking at

31:03

what he's developed along the defensive line

31:05

there at Ohio State is crazy to me.

31:08

But this kid's polished. He knows how to finish

31:10

as a rusher. I laughed at the end

31:12

of the year when people were like, oh, he didn't finish well.

31:14

He didn't have sacks in those last you know, couple games,

31:16

and I'm like, you watch the Clemson game.

31:18

He hit Trevor Lawrence like eight times in that game.

31:21

He was getting double and triple teamed in

31:23

that game. Now there's some context that matters.

31:25

It's not just the sack number of the stat sheet.

31:27

This gets pretty dominant. Daniel Jeremiah

31:30

is joining us. Does he compare to the Bosa

31:32

brothers? Now, Nick, I think is a better athlete

31:34

than Joey. They're both very good.

31:36

I think Nick's a special athlete. Is he as good as Nick

31:38

Bosa? I had Nick

31:40

with a little bit higher grade. And Nick

31:43

is the best leverage pass rusher that I've ever

31:45

evaluated. And what I mean by that is,

31:47

you look, you can see his lower body. Just look how he's

31:49

built. He gets underneath tackles,

31:51

and you see it with all pro tackles.

31:53

He gets underneath them and they have no breaks. I

31:55

mean, he just runs right through him with that power

31:58

and the leverage that he has, and he builds every thing off

32:00

that, so he's unique. I would rank

32:02

him just off college grades. And I say

32:04

this knowing, you know, calling Charger games that Joey

32:07

will probably punch me. But I have it

32:09

Nick than I have at Chase than I have it

32:11

Joey. And I think they're all three special players.

32:14

They're all three gonna be perennial Pro Bowl players.

32:16

Okay, you know it's funny

32:18

sixteen of the top thirty two players in your

32:20

mock draft from the

32:22

SEC. And you know I said

32:25

this yesterday. I'm so overhearing people whine

32:27

about SEC bias. They have the most good

32:29

players. In fact, I was watching Bucky

32:31

Brookshire Buddy in my Buddy the other day. A third

32:33

of his first round was LSU or Alabama

32:35

am a players like two programs, and

32:37

so it is it is it as a

32:40

scout and a former scout. Is it getting

32:42

greater? How they are? It's really

32:44

the SEC now separating eat to even a

32:46

greater level than everybody else. Daniel, Yeah,

32:49

And I think it's been interesting because you've really got

32:52

I kind of look at it as the SEC Clemson

32:54

Ohio State, like if you want to shop for all your

32:56

groceries, you can get everything you need and just

32:58

going and those three location. But

33:01

it used to be, you know, a while ago, the Big twelve

33:03

kind of fell off, right, Yeah, Oklahoma I should

33:05

include them. Yeah, Oklahoma's got players, Yeah,

33:08

yeah, they have great players. But outside of Oklahoma,

33:10

the rest of that conference has kind of fallen

33:13

off, and the PAC twelve was still you know, was

33:15

still close. And I think that, to

33:17

me is the biggest storyline is where the PAC twelve

33:19

is now versus maybe where it was when USC

33:22

was humming and rolling USC. Collen

33:24

has got to get back on the map. They have

33:27

got to get back to what they were to really

33:29

make the Pac twelve relevant and really make the West

33:31

coast relevant again. That's what's

33:33

needed, all right, Daniel Jeremiah.

33:36

It is great seeing you what your podcast

33:39

is. Outside the sticks, right, moved

33:41

the sticks, Move the sticks?

33:43

Okay, all right, to move the sticks. Thank

33:46

you, good seeing you, buddy, Thanks for joining us. All

33:48

right. Be sure to catch live editions

33:51

of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine

33:53

am Pacific on Fox Sports

33:55

Radio FS one and the iHeart

33:57

Radio app. You know the thing about when you host this show,

34:00

I have to be here every day, so you

34:02

guys can be wrong and you just disappear.

34:05

I can't disappear. I gotta be here the next day.

34:08

So when I have strong opinions like

34:10

Baker Mayfield's or reach at number one, he's not

34:12

disciplined or focused, and he's immature

34:14

but talented. I's here every

34:17

day, every day. You

34:19

in Cleveland kind of disappeared as his season

34:21

unraveled. Another story

34:23

today, another one. He

34:25

wasn't in shape last year. According

34:28

to Ian Rappaport, all

34:30

the new Browns people, the new GM

34:32

and the new coach and the new quarterback

34:35

coach. The plan

34:37

is this year on him being in better

34:40

shape. Now I said this. During

34:42

the course of last year, he looked pudgy.

34:45

Now you can tell me. You go ahead and

34:47

tell me that he did it to just get stronger,

34:49

but you don't add muscle in your stomach.

34:52

He was pudgy last year. Lamar

34:56

Jackson between er one and two, he

34:58

added fifteen pounds two to his

35:00

traps and his shoulders. I

35:03

don't have to worry about Carson Wentz and Patrick

35:05

Mahomes and Drew Brees and Lamar Jackson

35:07

and Russell Wilson being in shape

35:10

Russell's Russell adds weight every

35:12

year, muscle, not to his stomach.

35:15

Said it last year. Focus,

35:19

Baker Focus,

35:22

good newsdays. You were awful last year, so all

35:24

those TV ads go away. Focus

35:28

the quarterback coach talked about your mechanics,

35:30

gotta get better. You didn't focus. New

35:33

staff is saying you got to get in better shape

35:36

and slim down Brown

35:38

fans. I'm here every day. You can hate

35:40

me nine to twelve Pacific

35:42

regularly. I'm not going anywhere, and

35:44

I've been right from day one on. John Dorsey,

35:47

I was writing Freddy Kitchens. I've been writing Baker

35:49

Mayfield Focus because

35:51

I know Mahomes is focused. And I know Lamar is

35:53

focused, and I know Wentz is focused, and I know

35:56

Russell Wilson's focused. This has

35:58

been a focus issue. That's what we said last year.

36:00

He seems distracted the

36:02

TV ads. You know how long it takes to shoot

36:04

TV ads? Two three, four days?

36:06

You fly in places you're doing ads. You're

36:09

not good enough. You have to do this stuff. Now I find

36:11

out he wasn't in shape. Well, he was trying to get

36:13

stronger. You don't add weight to the

36:15

gut to get stronger. His traps

36:18

weren't bigger. That's not

36:20

what he looked like. We got tape of him. It wasn't

36:22

about his traps got bigger. That was Lamar Jackson.

36:25

So once

36:28

again, by the way, what does Tom Brady work

36:30

on his whole offseason mechanics,

36:34

diet, footwork. What

36:37

as the new quarterback coach complained about

36:39

in the last two weeks about Baker

36:42

the footwork mechanics we got we got

36:44

to clean up the footwork what you're doing

36:46

last year. That's all Brady does all offseason,

36:49

diet mechanics. Focus, gets

36:52

those beers you were drinking at that baseball

36:54

game. Maybe