The Herd with Colin CowherdColin starts with NFL free agency news as the Vikings have informed Aaron Rodgers they are not interested in signing him and the message teams around the NFL are trying to send to him. Shohei Ohtani homers in another Dodger win to start the season 2-0 and how Ohtani’s greatness is starting to diminish other legends of the past. Plus, Pro Bowl TE Marcedes Lewis joins the show in studio to talk about playing for the Bears and how he’s preparing to play his 20th NFL season
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This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowver on Fox Sports Radio.
All right, here we go. It is a increasingly busy Wednesday live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. Jmac More Baseball at three forty five in the morning. Loved it. I hope second night in a row. Little magnesium commitment to MLB action Early. We've got news on Aaron Rodgers. Very interesting last night. What developed with the Warriors and the Milwaukee Buck something that's happening and pretty obvious. So you ready to go? Are we ready to have a killer Wednesday show? He said? He is, Oh, so here it's official. It is official. The Minnesota Vikings the best option for Aaron Rodgers. It's over, they said, not interested. We're gonna go with JJ McCarthy. So now Aaron is left to the offensively tone deaf Pittsburgh Steelers who just lost their left tackling Najie Harris and can't get the on line right, or the New York Giants who have been in like an eight nine, ten year rebuild. That's what he's left with. It's got a Nicholas Cage feel, big production, big personality, big revenue. Once it dips, movie studios and NFL teams are like, yeah, you're a little quirky for us. His best option more walks on the beach in Malibu. Hey, the JFK files were released, Maybe that'll be it. But his last thirty starts two different organizations, one of them a really good one eleven and nineteen twenty four giveaways and a passer rating below ninety and a lot of moodiness and a lot of drama. And great NFL quarterbacks basically fall into two categories, great and low maintenance. Lamar Jackson, Mahomes Brady you know breeze and then great quarterbacks with some maintenance, sometimes high maintenance, Cam Newton, Aaron Rodgers, Big Ben and here's what I know that second group. They never age as well. Ever ever age as well, and that's Aaron's group. Now. He's always been and I don't think I'm taking a shot a little combative, even with his family. He's been moody, he's been at times arrogant. You could read Ian O'Connor's amazing book I did. You could go back to NFL Draft Night, you can go back to Jeff Pearlman's book or Ian O'Connors when you know he's poking the great Brett fav in the ribs. That's who he is. And it's okay to be defiant for any of us in our prime, but you better pivot to compliant when you're out of your prime. A lot of movie stars don't and they don't get the offers, and Aaron Rodgers didn't and he's not getting them either. Once you are out of the great years, you could be a high end chef, a quarterback, a movie star, a law partner. You lose your fastball. You got to go from defiant to compliant at least occasionally. And I thought it was very interesting this week, as the Steelers are now one of his options. The former Walter Payton Man of the Year, the highly respected team leader Cam Hayward talking about Aaron King teams like the Steelers. Wait, I ain't.
Doing that or darkness darkness retreat retreat. I don't mean any of that crap. Like, either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler you don't. That's that's simple. That's the pitch, Like if you want me to recruit, that's the recruiting pitch. You know, Pittsburgh Steelers. If you want to be part of it, so be it. If you don't, no skin on my back.
That is one of the most respected NFL players, not just on the Steelers, top ten in the league. I'm not into that darkness retreat crap. Let's be honest. If one of your friends went on one of those outside of Hollywood, it's kind of an eye roll, right the Woods of Oregon. I mean ayahuasca. I get artists doing that. I'm all for ayahuasca. Never gonna take it, never did, but I get creative types. But when Cam Hayward's like, I'm not gonna do that darkness retreat crap, I'm sorry. That's what a lot of people are saying, Like Nicholas Cage. Once the production drops, people kind of feel like, yeah, maybe a little quirky for us. Not a bad guy, but little quirky for us. It's now down to the Steelers, the Giants, or hey, the best option, in my opinion, walks on the beach in Malibu. All right, well, once again set the alarm clock a little tougher to get up. Second morning in a row, at the three point fifty in the morning. I'm not gonna lie to you, but it was on f fast one and the greatest baseball player ever. Yeah, it's not particularly close ever, put on a show well too.
Two pitch and he sends one deep all towards right center field, back at the wall, and it is off the very top of the wall, nearly a home run, and now they're gonna rule it perhaps as a.
Home run it is.
They kept it in play for a moment, but Otani craiks and he gives the fans what they've been waiting for this first of the year. Man, is there anybody in sports right now that meets the moment?
Like show?
Hey?
It is very messy and MJ and Tiger in his prime, Stephen Lebron, dude meets the moment and never forget this, he's a leadoff hitter. Okay, why because he's so fast first fifty to fifty plot he's so fast, they bat him lean up, leadoff. He could also about second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth seven. You can put him anywhere you want, and he could be an All Star pitcher. Half of his greatest skill he's not even using yet, the pitching part. Okay, Mahomes can't play linebacker. Ovechkin's not a goalie. What you're seeing now is making Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge all time great players feel small. You get no ego with Otani, so you take him off the Dodgers, they could still win the World Series. You put him on the Dodgers. I don't know who's stopping this freight train. They should change that Major League Baseball video game from MLB The Show to MLB Show Hay, because it feels like a video game leading base dealer power hitter for average all star pitcher. I again, you take him off the Dodgers. When Freeman and Bets are there and Dusty mains back, that's the Mayback that still can be favorites to win the World's here. You put him on the Dodgers and just think of the nerves and the electricity playing in Tokyo for show Hay yesterday, a couple of hits today the home run completely rises to the moment. Babe Ruth didn't run like this. Babe Ruth was cigars and beer and a belly. And this, this cat is totally there. This's the best athlete in America. There's nothing like him. And forget Babe Ruth, there has never been a pro athlete in America like this. Would any of you doubt if he put this into football he'd be a tight end, or if he wanted to play basketball. I mean it, just when you put him next to other great players we are watching history. Just put the camera on him. It's Tiger and his prime. Just watching him walk up the fairway as special. Here's Dave Roberts after.
Show Hey puts his pants on, just like we all do, one leg at a time. But if there's ever a superhero, I think Show Hey just seems like a superhero. And in the biggest of games or the biggest of moments, he seems to always deliver.
Yeah, phenomenal. And I felt the Cubs are gonna be a good team. And last year the Yankees and the Podres and the Mets were good teams, but when you watch this All Star team that includes O Tawny Man, everybody looked, everybody looks average. Cubs are a good team, but you go to the bullpen against the Dodgers, we wish you the very best of luck, but they're and they're doing it right now without a full lineup. They've got two potential All Star level pitchers, two all star position players not playing pretty special. Dodgers start the season two and zero.
So J Mac.
The Aaron Rodgers news is you and I have kind of been confused by Minnesota. There was the Darnald may Ree sign Daniel Jones last year, Aaron Rodgers flirtation. I've not quite understood all of it. My take is that November surgery. There's still some questions for JJ McCarthy, but this was the best spot for Aaron. Left tackle, receivers, coach, momentum, play indoors know the division that this was easily the best situation.
Certainly, you know he wanted to be in Minnesota right give and set up there, but I just you got to feel bad for the guy at this point.
Yeah, nobody wants him. Well, I think I think people would take him. But it's the terms are different now. You know the terms used to be. You know, when you're in your prime and you're great, the terms are your terms. You have you have the leverage, you have the pull the levers. Uh, he doesn't. And so it's it's kind of dried up. And and also when you get to this age to be one thing, if you're twenty seven and you're like, listen, i'm gonna I'm gonna go vacation, I'm gonna come back, I'm gonna train if you want me, I'm out there. It's not the way it works. When you're forty. You you you if you're not training every day, spending a million bucks to get elite and stay elite, you age. I mean you age fast in this lead to begin with. You really age fast when you're not at practice every day.
Remember Tom Brady was like, I'm leaving the Patriots. Who's interested? And there were people clamoring for his services. Yeah, Aaron Rodgers now on the market. Kind of crickets.
Yeah.
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App and we'll get to what Draymond did last night. He was remarkable against Giannis, and I'll get to that in a couple of minutes. He was shut him down to a large degree. So Steph takes the night off and the Warriors win, you know, kind of going away. And it's interesting when you watch Yokich over the last two to three years and you watch Wemby last year as a rookie in this year, it makes Yannis look much more incomplete. He doesn't shoot, doesn't he never developed a mid range game. He doesn't shoot a three, and so it's all about a physical mismatch and getting to the basket, which he does, but that takes a physical toll on you. All you have to do is go ask Shack. But the time Shaq hit thirty two and thirty three, he wasn't quite the same player. So Jannis has become sort of like Lamar Jackson, if Lamar hadn't developed into a great pocket passer. Yet there's very little dimension to Jannis's game, and especially when you watch Wemby and you you just see different dimensions. It's a space and shooting league and he hasn't developed one. So don't get me wrong. He's an all time great, and so with Shaq. And he gets to the free throw line a ton, but he's only shooting sixty percent from the free throw line. I think this morning we saw he has over one hundred misses from the free throw line from second place in the league. So again, very much like Shaq, but Shaq played in a different era where bully ball was good enough. Bully ball can dominate. It doesn't anymore, especially if you don't hit your free throws. It's a space and shooting league. And you watch Jokic, he's a point center. You watch Wemby breaking guys down on the angle. So Iannis is a great athlete, but Draymon last night largely shut him down. And here was Steve Kerr after.
Draymond that defense tonight on Yannis was incredible to hold him to five field goals. Draymond showed why he's still one of the great defense in the world and why he's so important to winning night after night.
Yeah, and again nobody's I'm not trying to dissuade you that that Giannis isn't an all time great player. And they got a title, but there there aren't a lot of dimensions, and when you start comparing him, it's like, yeah, it does feel like he's easier to defend. You're not gonna hold Yokic to five field goals. In fact, Draymond Green would tell you Jokis is the one guy that nobody can defend. I mean, Draymond can't, nobody can't, Rudy Gobert can't. And that's because there's so many things he can do well. So, I mean, I still think he'd be a great fit to the New York Knicks. But you know the NBA, we always talked about Dwight Howard. You know, he aged really fast and you know, the big rebound, block shot guy without a lot of post moves. One day it mattered, one day it didn't. And for Draymond to shut him down like that shows you you can defend him.
Now.
Not a lot of guys are Draymon, but nobody's stopping Jolki consistently.
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So remember it was a couple of days agoes Monday and I said there are certain sports debates that as an adult, they're beneath you like arguing who the sixty eighth best team in college basketball is. Remember, everybody was upset in West Virginia. The governor is is gonna be legal action? And oh good hell North Carolina only got in because they're a big brand. I don't have a problem with that. If it's the last playing game. I mean again, CBS and TNT pay for the wedding. They can't have one seating chart suggestion. So anyway, well, the ad was a committee chairman.
Boy.
They won by twenty seven last night, led by forty, which is unheard of in college basketball. And they're also favored over number six seed Old miss from the best conference, the SEC. The hand ringing, the pearl clutching West Virginia outrage once again playing the victim. Oh my god, people, I mean again, the JFK files are out. There's a conspiracy theory. You can all pursue it. Just it never fails that whenever we bash a team for like being into the tournament, they get inspired by that, like North Carolina, and play their butts off for the next two games. You see this in college football years ago, when a coach would complain about not getting a bull bid. He wanted, and that bled over to his team, and that team would go into a bull and get housed. And it's like, if you enjoyed this forty eight hour West Virginia embarrassing temper tantrum for a team that went nineteen and thirteen. The coach was so much about West Virginia. A day later he took the Indiana job.
Yeah, he was.
Really, I'm fighting for us, I'm fighting for the University Private Jet of Bloomington. It doesn't matter neither West Virginia or Carolina are winning three or four games. But the fact that Carolina, a bubble team led by forty last night. Again, if they would have been beaten by forty, all you West Virginia fans would have rushed to the innerweb to remind us you were right. So we're here to remind you you weren't. If you lead by forty in our favorite over an SEC team, it's not an egregious pull to get North Carolina in Again. You to run to the internet if they got smoked last night, So don't. Well, this doesn't make it right, no, but it makes it legitimate. It's a legitimate team in the tournament. If you're favored in your first official game in the tournament. It's all arguing. Once you get to the end, once you get out of the one, two, three, and four seeds and some automatic stuff, well, it's just all debates. So I will root for North Carolina. I've said before. I had somebody last night I remember her name was Jennifer came up and said, well, you won me seven hundred dollars last year because I took Connecticut. Looking at your bracket, Well, I said, who'd you take this year? She is, I went to your bracket again and took Auburn. And so I said, just to let you know, Auburn's not as good as Connecticut. The SEC is great. She took all four of my picks.
You know why.
You know, it's funny about this. A lot of people are saying, why didn't you take Duke. I'm always a little reluctant when your best players a freshman. And I'm not saying Cooper Flag's not great. But Duke's got a couple of kids that are really young, whereas Arizona's got like a fifth year Caleb loves like a fourth or fifth year senior. Yeah, it's like, I think age matters. We just talked about coaching age. I think it's hard even if you have the beat. I mean, look at John cal Pari, who's more than capable as a coach title why because his teams were all freshmen and he would get into these situational moments in a freshman guard, who, by the way, will get drafted number four and have a nice NBA career at eighteen, the pressure of March Madness playing a junior or a senior from Syracuse. I'll take the junior senior in that moment in that game. That's a great point. UNC, though, has a good draw.
They face ole Miss next, Yes, and ole Miss is on like a three eleven and one against the spread street They're they're not really playing well. I think UNC could probably take down Michigan State. But your point on Duke is interesting because I know Cooper.
Flag is a freshman. He's only eighteen.
He started the season in his seventeen year old Yeah, but Colin, you know the stat net rating in the NBA. You look at that a lot. Do you get the highest net rating in college basketball in the last twenty years, Colin, twenty years?
That's insane.
The last twenty years, the highest net rating.
In the sport. Yeah. No, I mean, I understand why people are betting him. They've got the best player. It's a big brand, and they're very good. I'm not denying that. What I'm saying is the conference they were in this year was not close to the SEC, and I think what you're gonna see. I think you're gonna see Tennessee, Florida, Auburn. You're gonna see some of these SEC teams that were in incredibly intense, sold out arenas NBA bodies everywhere. We saw this for years in college football when the SEC ruled teams would go to the SCC from the SEC would be like a number five SEC team. They'd go to like the Sun Bowl or some bowl game and they play number two or three team from their conference and roll them because they've been in all these high leverage, intense games against pro level athletes. So I think the SEC is gonna Now they may not win it, but I think the SEC by the end of this weekend, you're gonna be like, yeah.
So they have fourteen teams in the field, Okay, what if they go I don't know, like you know, they lose like five games on Thursday.
That's possible.
Are people can owe SEC overrated?
Yeah, fourteen teams? Well yeah, if people will say that and they will have teams lose, Ole Miss could be one of them. But if you and again you watch more college basketball than me. But I came to you mid January on the air. I remember a couple of times I said, are you watching some of these SEC games? They jumped off the TV. More skill from the perimeter, more, I would say, more balance offense, the defense like the Big Ten, Michigan is size, Michigan State is defense. Wisconsin. I'm not sure what they are offensively. The Big Ten's got a style. SEC's got better athletes, and I think they have just more dexterity offensively.
What's your excitement level on watching the games like all day? Are you like sitting from the Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, No mars Ulets, you want to go to a watering hole at some point?
No, No, I don't know, I just sit down. Well. I like how they bring in new games, kind of red zone it where you're getting, you know. I think it's one of the great weekends in sports in America.
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Nineteen years in the NFL. How about that second oldest player looks great t Aaron Rodgers, by the way, who always appreciated you. Mercedes Lewis, the former UCLA Bruin. God, you were drafted back in two thousand and six by the Jags. That you I remember your college career. So we were talking during the break. It is interesting I can remember now I'm old enough to remember when Benny Cunningham for the Steelers was like he made it a targeted game. And then you'd see Kellen Winslow and you're like, well that's a once o a twenty year player. It feels like there's a lot more Kellen Winslow ish guys coming out of college. What is the single biggest change at tight end from this past year to your rookie year.
Well, I would say, obviously I came in at a time where it was more run, heavy play action pass, let's control the clock being then extra extension of the line and if we need you to stress the field, great, here you go, catch your bone to come back and come block this power play, right, so as far as the change though, every like, tight ends now are more spread out, and I think the responsibility of the tight end is changing as time, you know, as time goes on, right, Like you, When I came in, it was like, okay, you have your number one tight end, and then you know you'll have two tight ends behind me, but they're not really going to be expected to do much work, right. It's special teams, and if I need a break or my shoe comes untied, I'll come out.
Somebody comes in.
Now, what you're saying, teams are starting to get more guys, you know, more depth at these different positions to kind of take the workload off of the number one guy. So for instance, Travis Kelce right, Elite passed Casher. You know what you're going to get out of him. You want to keep it as fresh as possible, so you're gonna have him there, and then who's behind him Gray? You'll have Noah Gray, who's your guy that can kind of do it all right, and then the guy behind nor Gray is going to be the more utility guy, special teams guy. All in in effort to keep the number one guy healthy, right and continue to develop the guys behind Travis.
But that's what it's more geared towards now, and I like it.
It's kind of like when you think of like the running backs and you have like your your guy who's going to run in between the tackles, your bruiser, and then you got your guy that is catching, you know, catching the ball out the backfield, pitches, sweeps and things of that nature. But it keeps guys fresh and throughout the.
Course of a year.
You need that some of some of what you've done is you know. I mean, I remember when you came out of college. It's like, could this guy play in the NBA? Remember Dave Winfield a baseball You had a Dave Winfield quality. You're like, he just decided to play a sport. You could have played more than one. So, but I wonder how much of nineteen years is just mindset. Do you think that matters?
Yeah, I think that's a good point. Obviously, the physical part of this game. You know what you're signing up for. I've been playing football so I was seven years old, and it's something that I've grown accustomed to. But my mentality is which sets me apart and having a routine and my adaptability as well. The game is gonna evolve, it's gonna, you know, continue to evolve, and if you want to have a loan career, then you have to find ways to kind of keep that edge and do the same.
And obviously, when I came out.
Of UCLA pass catcher, setting records, touchdowns, all of that got to Jacksonville those first three years was kind of like a culture shock because we didn't pass the ball at the rate you know, I caught the ball in college. But what that did was prepare me for what the road was going to be ahead, right. That was getting that gristle on my bones and really embracing the grind. And I've been able to weaponize the grind throughout my career. And you know, nowadays, when the expectations are a certain way, I've already been through that. I know what it looks like. So I'm able to lead from the front and help the guys that are coming behind me and let them know that, like, this.
Is truly a privilege to be in this league. And if you want to play for a long time, and.
You know, you want to have a really successful career, it's about the grit and the grind.
And that's what I thrive off of.
So cold comment. Notre Damer. I met him at the USC Notre Dame game. Really engaging guy. That's my guy, really nice guy. And so you were in Chicago. I'm moving the base of our show to Chicago and I'm going there after the show and wife's families there is you know, J Mac is like, I can't take the cold weather. Now you're a West Coast guy, can you at least acknowledge to J Mac? Chicago's a fun time.
I will say this. Obviously. I played twelve years in Jacksonville five and Green Bay. I just finished my second in Chicago. I think the city of Chicago is probably one of my favorite cities I've ever been in. And I was born in Long Beach. I went to UCLA, right, Love Love La. This is where I'm from, this is where the family is. But Chicago is probably one of my favorite cities to ever be in architecture, everything, man, the food is amazing.
The people are just great.
People dress up.
Yeah, no, it's and you mentioned the cold, Like, yes, it is cold, we do understand that, but like I feel like I dressed the best when it's cold.
You know what I mean I can layer up. I can wear my trench coats for my hoodies and everything.
Okay, I tell him that, you know, you know when I tell my wife this, yeah, I'm like, man, you are in the winter. She's got layers that come on. Yes, like that's got good looking people.
Yes, that's what it's about. Like I'm telling you, when it's hot outside. Sometimes in when I'm in my house, i don't even know what I'm wearing. Like I'll leave out with swim trunks with a hoodie just because I'm like.
What maybe cold?
You know la is It's like, yeah, says seventy eight, but the breeze, Like, I don't give me something that I know if it's gonna be sixty, I'm a dressed like it's sixty and I know exactly what I'm walking into.
So I enjoy it like it's a good time.
So we do worry a little about Caleb Williams. And I've said this, I love him personally. I mean, he's a good guy his and I think this was a fair not even a criticism, it was a fair kind of summation of him in college sometimes. And I think a lot of this was he didn't trust his own line. He just wouldn't out them publicly. Is that he was kind of a big play guy instead of taking the lay up, which that's the NFL. Mahomes takes a lot of layouts, no doubt. You know, Michael Jordan about twice a night was jaw dropping. Other than that, Michael hit a lot of eighteen footers. He just come down, and that he was a little prone to go wild, play over just boom, boom boom. Did you sense a little bit of that early in him growing out of that?
Yeah, I think you know, when you have a guy like Caleb and the ability that he has to get.
That ball out of his hand and throw off platform and make it look make hard stuff look very easy, and if you're doing it in college and you've been able to get away with it in college, obviously the natural progressions when you come into the league you're going to try to do some of those things. And so I think, you know, in his defense, obviously, with our offense last year, the firing of coaches and it was a lot going on, and he was just trying to do the best job he could at trying to take on all the information. Obviously, the offense kind of like shifted midway through the season, like it was just it was just a lot going on for him. And I think that, you know, obviously bringing Ben Johnson in and being able to pair him with Caleb and Caleb's ability to kind of be who he is, and Ben is going to be able to get in there and get into his mind and kind of create this offense around Calyb so that you know, he understands destructure how things should work in the NFL, and you know, you're not going to question Ben's ability to put guys in position to make plays and right you know, I'm looking forward to watching it.
It's going to be what are you going to play again?
Yeah?
Yeah, I mean I'm at nineteen obviously that's all I find the dandy, But twenty I don't know where yet. You know, there's been a few teams probing to kind of see if I'm going to continue to play, and so it's all in the universe's hands and I'm just gonna do my job like I've always done this offseason and train my butt off and I'll be ready when that.
Would you like to go to Chicago?
Of course, that's best case scenario.
Yeah, yeah, what's second best case scenario? You know, Chargers could use a they could use a tough guy.
Yeah, I'm gonna leave that open to interpretation. I'm not gonna, obviously for me to put Chicago out there. I've been there the last two years. I'm familiar with you got guys, the process, and you know that work and what they expect and what's expected of me. Right, And obviously they got they fired their coaching staff, but they kept my tight end coach who I've had the last two years there and so would be great to finish my career with him. Jim dre is somebody that I respect a lot, and he you know, brings the best out of us.
In that room.
And being able to continue to watch co commit kind of develop and do his thing as he comes into his own and you know, would just be a blessing. So you know, obviously, what I can control is being being my personal best and working out and doing my thing, and I'll be ready when that time comes.
So you know, Aaron well I said, I kind of thought he would, uh, Minnesota works. I would have gone to Minnesota. I could see Aaron at this point saying, you know, what I kept telling people. I think he likes New York. I think he's a smart guy, likes the city. It's fabric. I think New York is a like Chicago, big art cities for you know, museums and architecture, and there's just there's always somewhere to go in New York, in Chicago or London. I could see him going to New York. They got a left tackle, offensive coach, weapon, great running back draft. But I could also see Aaron saying, listen, Mount forty one a little bumpy at the end, first bout Hall of Famer. If you had to guest today retirement Steelers Giants, do you have a guest?
My guests would maybe be the Steelers.
You like the Steelers. They don't have a left tackle that worries me.
I think I just think that him coming from the Jets, obviously already being in New York. I don't know me knowing a Rod, I don't know if you want to just go right over to the Giants after being with the Jets, Like I just I feel like he want more of like just something completely new, completely different, potentially get out of New York. I know him and Tomlin have a really good relationship yeah, and a good you know, rapport there and it's just a still city. I feel like that's the piece that they would need to potentially put them over the top as well. But if I, you know what's having a conversation with Aaron right now about coming back, I would just say, chase joy, not happiness. Happiness is fleeting if you don't find joy in football and everything that comes with it anymore. As far as you know, being scrutinized and everybody picking you apart from the outside, you've done enough. You know you are one of the best that I've ever done it, and like you said, first ballot and a really good friend of mine. So I just, whatever it is, take the time to kind of figure that out. He always knows he can lean on me and hit me at whenever he wants to kind of sort through it. But he's definitely done enough. So it'd be interesting to see.
Is he misunderstood.
Yeah, I mean I think for people that don't know me, I would be misunderstood as well, you know what I mean. Like it's just one of those things like if you don't know somebody personally, you're going to form your own opinions based on second hand and third hand information that you've got, and then.
Does a rid kind of provoke it a little bit.
Because he knows. I think I've said this before, he can be combative, okay with his family. I'm not making stuff up. And I've said and I I've met Aaron Wance at the SPS very very quick and even in that little forty five second moment, he's got a big opinion and he'll tell you and he didn't know me, and I'll never say what was said. But my take is that's who he is.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, exactly, I mean I that's just who he is. And if you don't really have the time to kind of like sit there and get to know him and be with him on the day in, the day day out, basis, your opinion is probably going to be just like everybody else's opinion that don't really know him. And so, you know, I'm grateful to have had those moments with him, and you know, we've actually spent holidays together and you know, spent a lot of time together kind of picking his brain and it's it's just a different psychosis that makes you great. And he's one of those guys. And and he loves football, Yeah, he loves it. Man, Just how he prepares, how it comes to work. You know a lot of people don't understand too is And I'll leave it with this. You know, friendships and connections as far as who you respect at the professional level, even really at the college level, it's based on how you come to work and what you what you do in the film room, how you are on the field, how you cheat people around the building like that, that's your value. And uh, if you're one of those guys that does it the right way and he is, and how he leads from the front end of the building, Uh, you're gonna be best friends. And if you're not, you know, he's gonna you're gonna find out real quick, you know. And a Rod is one of those guys like he's not he's not necessarily gonna pull you aside him Like, man, I don't really like this. He's just not gonna talk to you, you know.
What I mean? And like that's just what it is.
Everybody's different. Who's the biggest trash talker you line up against career and currently a guy that like Max Crosby, he said, he's like a radio announcer, like he's just talking.
Yeah, so.
Max, Max does talk a lot, but Max backs it up a lot, so he he could say whatever.
Han.
Yeah, he's he's a dude, and he's one of those guys. Whether it's Max crossby Miles Garrett, whenever I'm gone against those two guys, I know that the night, like the night before, my body feels different because I know that, like, uh, come Sunday morning, I'm gonna need all of what I have, uh in order to get my job done. And I think that's the beauty of competition in general. And if I don't feel that, then it may be an issue. And I have to like sometimes muster that up right.
And and Max is one of those guys. It's just different.
Yeah, it's just different. You just know that you're gonna get.
You're gonna you're gonna get a handful of every single play, NonStop.
This is what it is.
Whether you block them, great, just know that the next play he's coming after you. And but that's what I thrive off of, Like that's you don't have guys like that no more. Like Max is an old school guy.
He is a raider from the seventh you know, what I mean, Like, he's just an.
Old school guy, and like I think for me, that's what I appreciate more are guys that are that way.
And you're gonna have.
Guys that talk a lot, but if you're not backing it up like that, then it becomes whatever. Right, Like you can watch the film and he jumps off the film every single place, so you know what you're getting right, and you know, those are the type of guys you respect every day.
So man, we only get you like twice a year. I know. Man, I gotta you're busy life.
Yeah, I gotta start buy it more.
Well, no, no, no, it's not your responsibility. I'll just have to fire my guest booker. It's mcdell. So you do you still live over by my favorite restaurant?
Yeah, so I'm still over there. I'm actually now in Studio City, though I moved down. I just wanted to try some little different. It was being in the Sino was kind of far. Oh yeah, you know, coming back this way. But I'm a joining Studio City and I'm there for now.
So we'll see, man, I love to see you with the bears.
Oh man, let's see what happens.
I'm in the Birds now too.
Yeah, no, they have my numbers. But you know, I like it, like it.
I like being just far enough away. But if I want to go get it, you know, I mean it's la.
So maybe who's the biggest personality in the bird Like a funny guy. Every locker room's got a funny guy, I.
Would say, uh, DJ Moore.
DJ is like he's unassuming too, Like DJ is quiet at like face value, but like once you get to know him, it's pranks, jokes, like he's he's a dude.
I love DJ.
A great player, no doubt. Mercedes Lewis, what a pleasure. Maybe we'll go into business someday, let's do it. I got a podcast company, sign me up? Would very popular? Kids like it.
Yeah, we've been talking about this for a long time now, and I got one more that I want to get, get twenty and then wow, just get it, man, Not.
Like you'd need it, but you're gonna have quite a pension.
I appreciate.
Hey.
You know what's funny about that is like you don't really think about those things because you're you're literally in the grind. And then guys don't necessarily play for this long so you don't really even Yeah, but here's the wild thing. Yes, there'll be a pension there, but it's more so like some of the things you can't even have access to to your forty five, I'll be forty one in May, like who finishes playing, and then like if I wanted to, it's like, oh yeah, cool, two or three years, I could just.
You could be president, Like in forty two, the number on presidency. I think I just retire bears and run for off. But believe me, we could use lots of leadership in the Oh my gosh, Mercedes great. See anybody likewise.
Appreciate you, brother, Appreciate it.
