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 heard. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Thursday, breaking news live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one one hour from now, Greg ko Sell. It starts on Thursday next twenty twenty five weeks. Greg Kosell on Thursday, second hour, Top of It. Jason McIntyre jmack is now joining us here on a Thursday. So I swear we have had the craziest string of luck or good fortune. We love when news breaks because it's spurgeent. Fans love it and breaking news and we're in that business. So thirty seconds ago, breaking news on Deshaun Watson, Big Deshaun Watson suspended eleven games, Colin five million dollars, finest Shin and Charpe just said, the largest ever levity to gets the player. And a lot of questions. Now for your Cleveland Browns, your Cleveland Browns, Jacoby Brissette heading into the season, all right, so let's start with that. According to various sources, this happened, you know, folks, about a minute ago. The NFL and the NFLPA there's going to be no lawsuit. They're agreeing to this. And this is how agreements go. You negotiate, you get some stuff you want. I get some stuff I want. So when the six game suspension came out, Sue Robinson, right, the former like judge, many people speculated, many people were speculating before she rendered a six game suspension, Deshaun may get none. Go back and look, there were those in the legal profession that said she was looking at the evidence and where was the criminal behavior? Remember there were no civil suits. Right, So then at six games, when that came down, I said, I'd double it to twelve, six games for the preponderance of evidence of unethical behavior, and then I would double it for line. He's never been up front about it, and so they have agreed to eleven games. Now, Roger Goodell wanted the season, But in negotiations you don't get everything you want. Deshaun Watson's camp was very happy with six. Remember DeShawn Watson's camp in the NFLPA when he got six games. You remember their reaction. They were very favorable, did not argue it, very satisfied. Why because they knew it was light. So Goodell comes in strong, calls it predatory. He's furious, basically saying, we're going to give this another goal around with another four retired attorney general in New Jersey who has a connection to the NFL, and so we were all kind of waiting for that right Well, during this process, the NFL, Goodell and the NFLPA have been negotiating and they have reached eleven games and a five million dollar fine. Again, that's a big fine. I mean that's the largest fine I've ever heard for a player. I mean, a million dollar fine is a seven figure fines, gigantic. A five million dollar finds a lot of money. I don't know. I'm sure there's been an owner, I don't off the top of my head. I'm sure there's been an owner five five million dollars or more. But for a player to get five million dollars. Fine, that's ten million in real money, right, so you got to give him five million cash. So it's eleven games. Listen, they're not gonna go get Garoppolo. I would imagine they're gonna go with Jacoby Brissette. He's been in the system, now he's got the coaches. This eleven games, he'll come back. His first game back would be Week thirteen against Houston. So let's look at the games. So week thirteen, you're gonna get at Houston, at Cincinnati, Baltimore, Saints, Washington, Pittsburgh, those games outside of Pittsburgh. Since he you're probably winnable with Jacoby Brissette. But you're not going to get him against the Chargers and Justin Herbert. You're not going to get him against Mac and the Patriots. You're not going to get him against Lamar and Burrow the first time. You're not going to get him with two on the Weapons or Josh Allen or Tom Brady. So it says here, I'm being told it's eleven games and the first game is week thirteen. So the NFL, remember they wanted there was a lot of talk it would be twelve games. My guess is they didn't want to Shaun on the field with Tom Brady, who is the biggest brand in the NFL. They didn't want to Shaun Watson anywhere near a Tom Brady game. Nowhere near tom By. Tom Brady doesn't want to Shaun Watson anywhere near here's brand. So the NFL, I think today, is satisfied with, Yeah, go to Houston, there's your first game. But most of the great quarterbacks they face are in those first ten, eleven, twelve weeks. Not gonna have him with Brady, not gonna have him, Josh Allen, not gonna have him the first time with Lamar and Burrow, not gonna have Justin Herbert. So certainly not going to have him week one against Baker Mayfield. So there you go. I think, you know, I don't think Cleveland in that division. I think Cincinnati's really good, Baltimore is really good, and I don't know how good Kenny Pickett's going to be or the quarterback situation. But Pittsburgh has got a lot of talent and no chaos and all sorts of playmakers on both sides of the ball. So it feels like to me this is a fourth place team and that's that's by the way, I got no problem with it. That's the price you pay for rewarding really bad behavior. And it's not just that Cleveland gave him a contract. It's not just that they gave him the only fully guaranteed contract that I remember in NFL history, two hundred and thirty some million dollars fully guaranteed. It infuriated the other owners. You see stuff in Baseball ten year contracts and the NBA, a lot of fully guarantee that you just don't do that in the NFL. So Jimmy Haslam had did curried no favor with any of these owners, so nobody in the ownership group was rooting for Cleveland. Jerry Jones years ago pushed back on the NFL when Zeke got what was it like, a six game suspension for bad behavior. Jerry has a lot of allies in NFL owners. He's made the league a lot of money. He's made a lot of owners a lot of money. His best friend in the league is Stan Cronky, owns the Rams. I think he's the richest. I think he's the richest owner in the NFL. He's the one that got Stan Cronky in the NFL to go to Vegas, which has been a home run, to go to Los Angeles, which has been a home run. Jerry Jones has a lot of fans in the NFL. He's made a lot of people money, and Jerry try to get Goodell fired. Reportedly it didn't work. So in this instance, this was a different situation, but very similar to it Donald Sterling where none of the owners were back in Sterling, Adam silverwalkedn't get out of here. None of the owners are back in the haslams here right, especially teams with them on the schedule. But that fully guaranteed contract felt like you're rewarding really predatory behavior. So some people won't like it. Some will, People can gripe, but the NFL and the NFLPA have reached a settlement, so I would imagine you're not going to get a lawsuit, not an attorney, but eleven games a massive five million dollars fine, and he'll return week thirteen against Houston, but I think at that point Cleveland will pretty much be toast. That is kind of my guess. So that's our story this morning. Yeah, Cleveland's buys in week nine didn't get a break there either, I think when it came out at six, we said it feels light, so they kind of doubled it, basically doubled it. And so I think people that are realistic about this stuff like they're gonna people people that are just outraged that he's ever playing a game. Folks, they're called negotiations. You know, you don't get everything you want in negotiations. The NFL probably didn't want a lawsuit. The NFLPA didn't have a track record of winning a lot of lawsuits against the Shield. They probably didn't want it either. So a couple of days ago, I think I said on the air, a couple of days ago, when Deshaun Watson and his camp had said, Okay, we'll take an eight game fine from six and five million dollars, I asked somebody, I forget who it was on the set, that feels like they'd go to ten. So they got six, and then it was six for a week. Goodell was furious, Right, Goodell's like, it's predatory. So Goodell throws it out there, this is not enough. He's telling his sponsors, that his fans, that the women who love the NFL, that he's telling other owners. Goodell sent the message out the bat signal this is not enough. Didn't hear a thing for a few days. Then you know, a few days later, Watson and his camp were like, Okay, we'll take eight games at a five million dollars fine. And I remember asking somebody and I forget who it was, that feels like they're willing to go to ten. So they went to eleven, and so I imagine Watson moved and his camp moved to ten pretty quick. The NFL was like twelve or nothing, because we had heard reports the NFL wanted twelve or the season. So Watson agreed to eight, which means he'd take ten. The NFL wanted twelve of the season, and they meet at eleven. That's what it feels like happened. And that's the way many of you, I'm sure listening or watching have been in negotiations. You've had an attorney for something, it could be for a million different things, and you negotiate. You get this. I get that the NFL wanted twelve of the season, Deshaun willing to take eight. They meet at eleven, and it does feel and this is appropriately like it kind of dooms the season. I don't think you should be rewarded for a fully guaranteed contract for somebody with really sketchy, ugly predatory behavior. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Deshaun Watson has been suspended for eleven games, meaning he will be eligible in week thirteen at Houston, his former home. He is not allowed to practice once the season starts, meaning he's got three weeks left to take first team reps with this group. So Cleveland's in a tough spot. Do you give him first team reps? Well, then what do you do with Jacoby Brissett? Because Jacoby Brissette is essentially the quarterback for seventy percent of this season? Are you not going to give him first team reps? Why waste them on to Shaun Watson? But once the season starts, to Shaun camp practice, so you're putting the season it's over, it's done. He's gonna come back, rusty. Did anybody see him play this past weekend? How bad Deshaun Watson was? Hasn't played in two years. So now the dilemma for Cleveland is do you give him these three weeks of practice to get the timing down a little bit. Then you're taking away snaps for Jacoby Brissette, who, by the way, the opening schedule for Cleveland, it's brutal week five if you look at it, Week five, Chargers, Belichick, Baltimore, Cincinnati two, and those weapons down in Miami, Buffalo, Brady. They'll be underdogs in all of those games. Wouldn't be shocked if they lost all of them. At Buffalo, at Miami, at Baltimore, those are losses. Okay, the first four games, Cleveland probably favored in three or four of those. Carolina, Jets, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, So you can give to Shaun Watson all those first team reps and get some semblance of timing down, but you're taking away reps for Jacoby Brissett and the first team, and the wins on this schedule with Jacoby Brissette are the first month. You do not want to be playing catch up because, by the way, did you see that Carolina already announced Baker's starting Week one, So they're already moving to Baker's getting the first team reps. They're already moving. They're not gonna mess around here. And so the Jets, you don't know who starts there. That's a break for Cleveland. So Cleveland gets a little break. Jets don't know who the starter is, by the way, we don't. We think it's Trubisky. That's a bit of a break. And then Atlanta Marcus Mariota. He's really talented, he's been hurt his whole career. We think he plays. So your first four weeks are a break for Cleveland. If Deshaun plays in the games, you're probably four and oh he doesn't Brissette, you can go three and one or four and oh those games. If you're Cleveland, you got way better roster than those teams. Cleveland is not rebuilding. I mean they are outside a receiver where they're thin, star back, star oh line, star pass rusher, Denzel Wards, star corner, great young linebackers. Cleveland will be favored. I'm guessing here. In the first four games with Jacoby Brissette, my guess is I'd take him in all four games. Pittsburghs go either way. So you gotta get Jacoby up ready and Roland for week one so I can't give to Shawn first team reps. And once the season starts, he can't practice, so he is gonna go Week thirteen. That's his first practice in three months, almost four So it's it's this is what Roger Goodell wanted. He did not want Deshaun Watson in the playoffs. He didn't want him to play anything this year, but he wasn't going to have him against Brady on national TV. He was knock, that's a Fox game. He's not letting that happen, and he's not letting them get to the playoffs. And those tough early games. Goodell looked at that schedule and thought, those are TV games. I'm not putting to Shaun Watson. I'm not rewarding him with TV games. Your first game back, nobody's watching down in Houston, maybe the worst team in the league. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine a Empacific fans, you consume the media all the time. You watch games, that's media. You read columns, that's media. You watch shows like this, that's media. But fans generally want stuff they agree with, or they want to hear what they want to hear. And so I've said three or four different sources have told me that Trey Lance has been a complete work in progress at practice, where one day is great, the next day's terrible. My buddy Mike Silver has heard the exact same thing from a coach on the staff that it's by the way, this is sponsored by credible great rates, none of the bull and so listen, fans get upset, Colin, why are you banging on Trey Lance. Well, the ringer came out with a story today on Trey Lance. According to this reporter, nobody's picking on the niners. They talk about Trey Lance had a very good day at practice. The story says, the next day, not good. Lance, who gets all the starters reps, miss more than half his throws. So he completed less than fifty percent of his throws at practice, including all but one of his final nine. So as last nine, his last nine passes at practice, he was one for eight. Practice where quarterbacks can't get hit. Later in the story, Kyle Shanahan, the head coach, admits, he's had some good days and he's had some rough days. I thought he had a rough day as last practice, so he'll bounce back. That is exactly what I've been saying for six months that the Niners have a super Bowl roster and a super Bowl head coach. I do not believe they have a accurate enough distributor of the football. By the way, in his two starts last year, he completed fifty nine percent of his throws. I was told six weeks ago, six weeks ago that the Niners contacted somebody outside of the building, a quarterback consultant. They were still concerned. So since his final year in college twenty twenty, Trey Lance has completed one hundred and one My bad. He has one hundred and one pass attempts in two years. He's got one hundred one pass attempts in real games, so he is raw. He has not played a lot. I looked at the Niners schedule this morning. In over half their games, they're not shutting teams down. They'll probably be in shootouts. Russell Wilson, Matt Stafford, mahomes At Stafford, Herbert Kyler, Murray, Tom Brady, Derek car Kyler Murray. Again, I'm not counting two on his weapons, Carson Wentz or Baker Mayfield, who would all at this point probably we kind of think they're better at this point, So fan bases I got news for it if you want news. Sometimes news isn't favorable. But the Ringer story is doubling down on what we heard. Exactly what we heard is that day to day you don't know what you're gonna get. And even last week in the win where he made a really nice throw down the sideline of his five completions, one of them out in a flat a layout for a burrow and Alan a lamar a layoup overthrown and the tight end had to go away, and that's a layoup. That's a three foot pot on the tour for starting quarterbacks. So I think San Francisco is a top five roster. I think they have a top five coach. But it is kind of maker break on this young quarterback raw not a lot of work. Even the college you went to was a power run offense. It was not quarterback centric. So how are they gonna do? I don't know, but the season's down to him, and the reports have always been absolutely entirely accurate. Check if you want exclusive insight from the biggest names in the sports game. What's good. This is national champion and former pro bowler Chris Johnson. And let me tell you a little bit about my new series kJ Live. kJ Live is the only show featuring me going one on one with the brightest basketball minds on the planet to get the real And when I say real, I mean that real. I got legendary Hall of famers, elite coaches, and the top basketball insiders bringing you a unique perspective on all things hoops culture that you will not find anywhere. Helps to make your next move your best move, and tap in with me on kJ Live wherever you get your podcast from. Baker Mayfield got the worst good news of his career. He's starting for Carolina. He's gonna start Week one for Carolina, so they want to get him reps and get him playing. The downside is they don't get a break here. The first seven games the Carolina Panthers play, and the Carolina Panthers O line is bad, even with upgrades. Pro Football Focus ranks at twenty fourth. It's a bad old line. They face Miles Garrett, the Saints, Arizona's got a great pass rush, San Francisco, Bosa, Aaron Donald, LA and Tampa with all their pass rushers. Even New York has three first round picks on the defensive line, they did not get a break in terms of pass rushes for a rebuilt offensive line that PFF has at twenty four. So you know, I say this all the time, and I've told my kids this. You better be ready in your twenties, your early twenties. You may get the best break of your life in your twenties twenty two years old. Be ready for it. It's a prime example. Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkeesian got great coaching breaks early. Lane wasn't ready for it. He wasn't mature enough to get the Raider's job up and running or USC. He blew it up. He wasn't mature enough. But he's a coach, and coaches get third, fourth, fifth chances. Lane now is a making a ton of money, crushing it at old Miss Steve Sarkeesian usc job too early, couldn't handle it, a lot of pressure, had anxiety, personal issues, blew up, bounced around. Now he gets the Texas Longhorn job. That's a top five job in college football. So in coaching, you can screw it up, you will get second and third chances. It's different for a pro athlete, especially a quarterback. You screw the first chance up, you'll never I mean the chances of you getting a great second opportunity are virtually none. And if you look at Baker, and this is what I'll say, he will never get an opportunity like that. He was beloved in Cleveland. He had more power than the coach. He eventually got Hugh Jackson and Kevin Stefanski, both offensive coaches. That's what the league's turning. He had a top three offensive line, he had Nick Chubb, he had stars at key positions, Miles Garrett, Denzel Ward, o b J Nick Chubb, pro bowler on the offensive line. He literally got this gift and he simply wasn't mature enough and ready for it. And now he's gonna be running for his life in the first seven weeks. So you know, this is the great example. Also in the division, Joe Burrow when he first got there, wasn't in the league. He's a pop. Big Ben was aging quickly. The Ravens were transitioning from Flacco to Lamar Jackson. Everything worked out for him. He gets Stefanski, He's got Denzel Ward. What are the best teams in the league have they have the star corner, the star edge rusher, the star receiver. They had ob J Denzel Ward, Miles Garrett, then Nick Chubb, great old line. This is what a second chance looks for in the NFL at quarterback when you screw up the first seven great pass rushes, rebuilt offensive line, and a coach in Matt Rule who's completely on the hot seat, completely on the hot seat. So I wish him the best. It's a good news, bad news. Congratulations, You're starting for the Carolina Panthers with a rebuilt offensive line against seven of the top twelve pass rushes in the NFL. Miles Garrett, who I think maybe the best week one? That is a rough one. 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. So let's move on to Greg coasl forty two years NFL films as we start our Thursday journey. So let's talk football. So George Pickens looks like the steel of the draft now steals a relative term second round. It wasn't fifth. But if I recall, you were on our show back in April, touting him, were you not? I was based on film and that's all I do. I don't get into the character and the other issues which teams do get into, which is why he did drop, by the way. But I thought he was the best receiving prospect in this draft class based on tape. I thought he fit the profile of an NFL boundary X receiver, the receiver that lines up to the short side of the field and can win one on one. His body type is similar to an AJ Green. He's very explosive off the ball column. He eats up space in a hurry. He's physical, he's competitive. I thought the tape said that George Pickens was the best receiving prospect in this draft class. I want to talk about Kenny Pickett. I said this. I think it was yesterday or the day before Greg. He has multiple advantages most rookie quarterbacks don't have. He played all of his college home games at the same stadium. He's twenty four, he was a four year starter. It looks like they landed Pickens. The Steelers have stability, Mike Tomlin. They've got an excellent young running back, an excellent young tight end. This is not the way it usually works for a rookie quarterback that you don't have stability, a top coach, real weapons, you're twenty four, you started four years, you played your home games in college at the stadium. My takeaway was this, and I'll just throw it at you if I'm Pittsburgh. If he's not ready now with this stability, you got the wrong guy. Good God. We gave Joe Burrow the dysfunctional Bengals, and even though he got hurt in year one, by week two we were all going, WHOA, Kyler Murray dysfunction. Week two we're all going WHOA. I kind of feel like you got to roll the dice with Pickens. He has built in advantages most rookies don't. Yeah, and I think they in some ways. They told you that they're saying all the right things now, of course, which all teams do. But don't forget they signed Trubisky. It's a deal they can get out of after one year. They know what Truebhisky is. Everybody does Colin. Yet they drafted Kenny Pickett with the twentieth pick in the first round. That really told you all you needed to know. And when you watch Pickett, obviously it's one preseason game. And I'm a firm believer and I say this all the time. I'm never defining a player's career on a preseason game. But Pickett just has the look and feel of an NFL quarterback. He's strong in the pocket, he's decisive, He's precise with his ball location. Does he leave the pocket too soon at times? Yes, that may come with experience. He can move, he has second reactionability. I think Kenny Pickett is their best quarterback and should be the Week one starter. Speaking of young quarterbacks, Jordan Love got a look. He threw three picks. He didn't get blamed for a couple of them. But this is my takeaway. You got an offensive coach, it's a non chaotic situation. You got Aaron Rodgers, who's a brilliant guy in front of you. Good backs. You know, I look at this and I think, okay, I'm moving into year three here, I gotta see some growth. I gotta see something now. There's too many of these guys pop in year one. Justin Herbert, Hey, you're starting. He plays the Chiefs, and it looks like immediately you got a guy. Are you seeing growth with Jordan Love? Well, what do you make of it? Yeah? I watched his preseason game, and of course I saw him through his college career. I still think he's a little inconsistent in some areas, and maybe at this point in time, that suggests he's not a true starting quarterback. His ball placement is too inconsistent. It needs to be more precise. He misses too many throws, and don't forget ball placement can also be a factor on completions, not just in completions, because run after catch is a function of the quarterback more than the receiver. I think his reads are still a little off at times. So you know, maybe this is who he is. He can make some phenomenal throws. He's got a big arm, he's mobile, he looks the part. But I think there's just some inconsistency and an erratic nature to some things that are important at the position, particularly decision making in ball location. Okay, the ringer had a story today. Kyle Shanahan admitted, Trey Lance accuracy day to day, you get good and bad. There's another source in the story that said, listen, he had a practice recently. Nine final throws, eight were incomplete. I watched him the other night. He hasn't thrown the ball much in the last three years. Here's My takeaway, you know the Kyle Shanahan offense, is it a demanding offense? Not all offenses are the same. Bruce Arian likes to throw all the ball way over the top. Josh McDaniels and Brady it was an efficiency offense, get the ball out quickly. When you look at Shanahan's offense and Trey lances potential accuracy issues. Can he elevate Trey? Can it work? Can you win eleven twelve games if you don't have a Joe Burrow as a thrower of the football. It's a great question, and I think it is a demanding offense for the quarterback in terms of the kinds of throws they ask him to make. Now, some of that could change because Lance has a bigger arm. For instance, with Jimmy Garoppolo, what did we mostly see, Colin. We saw throws between the numbers. Yes, And you can say what you want about Jimmy Garoppolo, but he threw those balls with conviction and he was a very good thrower between the numbers. Every once in a while he'd throw a head scratcher and we'd all you say, oh, he stinks, But he didn't stink. He was asked to make a lot of difficult throws. Now, Garoppolo did not have a big arm, did not throw outside the numbers much at all, and did not throw the deep ball real well. Lance does have a big arm, He can throw outside the numbers, and he can throw the deep ball. So the question is does Kyle tweak his offense and tweak certain things because Lance can do certain things better than Garoppolo, but then he can't do things that Garoppolo can do. But the accuracy always becomes an issue at times, and Lance, to me still has a little extra hitching. His giddea app and his delivery and fractions in this league matter, as you well know. So I think Lance will be a work in progress. You know, you were for years and years you had a different opinion on Russell Wilson, and over time you were probably right that he was creating some of his own sacks that you had said for years, five years ago, you're like, this stuff, this isn't ad lib. It looked like it's planned ad lib. You always found him a little bit of an enigma. And of course last year he gets hurt and has his worst year. So now he moves to a Denver offense which has two really good backs, a veteran and a young back, better role line than he had in Seattle, and some interesting weapons here. There's a lot of youth, but there's some really nice weapons here. And I'm interested, how do you think project how you think he fits and he finally gets an offensive coach how he fits in Denver? Well, This to me is one of the most intriguing sort of coach quarterback mixes of this season because Russell Wilson there's certain throws that he can't make, not because he's not capable of making the throw, because he's just small. So if you're going to have the quarterback be the foundation of your offense in the sense that you want to throw the ball thirty five forty times a game, keep in mind, Colin, there's a lot of short throws. There's a lot of sustaining throws. You know, you can look at it Tom Brady, how many times does he throw a five yard ball in at second and five? Then he might throw another five yard ball and he gets a first down. When you when the quarterback is the foundation, there's a lot of short throws. And I can tell you for a fact from talking to coaches who've coached him, there's some throws he can't make because he can't see. Yeah, So the question becomes, can he be that guy? We know he throws a great deep ball, we know he can drive the football, he's got a very good arm. We know about his second reaction ability. But they've also got two good backs, one in Javanta Williams, who I think can be special, and a pretty good old line. So what is their offense going to look like? Is this going to be a Russell Wilson offense or is this going to be a balanced offense. So my favorite part of the show when I pat myself on the back. So years ago, seven or eight years ago, I said, I know y'all love Aaron Rodgers, but I see stuff I don't love. I think on the sidelines he can be a finger pointer, an eye roller. I think sometimes he now just throws off the back foot. I think he plays better with a lead than behind. I think sometimes he checks out if he has a couple early picks, it's like he's protecting his passer rating. He is reluctant. He can be reluctant throwing to people unless he absolutely trust them. We saw that in the playoff game against San Francisco. So years and so I'm seen as a Rogers hater, but I've said before I prefer him over Farv, who was too much gunslinger for me and harder to coach. I like Aaron, but I do think there are things in his past. He really takes a long time to build trust with him, and we've seen this in his personal life. So I look at this young receiving corps. I got old Sammy Watkins who can't stay healthy. I got a Maori Rodgers who couldn't get on the field. I got three rookies, and I think to myself, Okay, and Alan Lazard, I think this could get really turbulent, this could this could be really interesting. What do you kind of what's your guests on how this a lot of moving parts and not a lot of experience with Aaron? What do you think it looks like? It's a great question, because you know, over the last two years, I thought Rogers really settled beautifully into Mattel of Flora's offense, but of course he had Davante Adams. Now he does not. I thought over the last two years he played from the pocket at a really high level, and say what you want about Rogers, maybe nobody has ever thrown the ball as well as Aaron Rodgers. So that's not the question. The question is trust. Is he going to play within the timing and structure of the pass game if he does not feel comfortable with his receivers, and he has shown as you said that if that's the case, he often does not turn it loose. Colin, I'm very curious. Now. I loved Romeo Dubs. He's another guy whose tape I really loved, and actually I compared his college tape to Davante Adams coming out of Fresno. Now a lot of people say, oh, Davante Adams the best receiver in the league, But as you recall the first couple of years of Davante adams career as a second round pick, by the way, he did not put up big numbers, there was a question as to what he would become. He's obviously become great for many reasons, but I think Dubs has a similar athletic skill set. Now, whether he turns into that, only time will tell, but I think your point about is very fair. Will he become more of a movement, improvisational, random player because he does not feel comfortable turning it loose within structure. By the way, Roquan Smith, So I had a big rant yesterday and people in Chicago mostly agreed with it. I said, listen, name a great receiver in Bear's history. You can't because they don't value it. It's always been a defense first, tough guy city. We're gonna punch in the mouth. We love our Mike Ditka, we love our Brian Erlecker. That was great for a long time. The world's changing. I mean I watched the Super Bowl where the Rams and the Bengals had suboptimal linebacking play. That used to be the position, the Lawrence Taylor, the Ray Lewis. The world's changing. So Roquan Smith has been there for a couple of years. He's not winning your games. To me, if he wants a new contract, I said, you have to consider getting somebody beyond cole Comment and Moody to throw the ball to. You got to make Justin Field's work. This thing has to work. And so I think by and large many agree, but I'm not denying. Roquan Smith is there, maybe their best player. So now he's got a defensive coach Justin Fields, I don't love if you keep Roquan Smith with Matt Eberflus the new defensive coach. Do they work together? Does his system work with this kid? Yes, Because keep in mind, Matt Eberflus is a very interesting defensive coach in the NFL. Obviously, he's the head coach now. On first and second down, Eberflus is pretty even nell in what he does on third down, He's incredibly multiple and incredibly difficult to play against. Okay, and that's what offensive coaches in the league will tell you. And keep in mind who he's just coached and who have become really good players. We know about Darius Leonard, Bobby o'karake has become a really good linebacker in Matt Eberflus's system in Indianapolis. Then not a lot of people talk about, but his tape is really good and he's a really good player. So you could make the argument from a football standpoint. You were talking bigger picture, Colin about the quarterback, which is always critical, obviously, but you can make the argument that Roquan Smith as a linebacker is in a great position with Matt Ebuflus as his defensive coach. Because Ebuflus knows how to use linebackers, particularly when he's in his sub packages. So Smith, hey, look, we don't begrudge anybody making a lot of money Collin, we know that. But he's in a really good spot if he stays in Chicago. So let's talk Justin Fields. I said this yesterday. I think at the end of this year, we're gonna look at these five first round quarterbacks. We're gonna acknowledge that Trevor Lawrence is the most talented, that Trey and Mack are going to win a lot of games based on where they landed, and that Zach Wilson and Justin Fields are not special enough to overcome some dysfunction in the organization. That is my guess. I think Fields looks the part your thoughts going into year too, and a full time starter for Justin Well. I think you could make the argument Colin that Justin Fields as a talent is more talented than Trevor Lawrence. I think he throws the ball better. He's a phenomenal athlete. He's I mean to Lawrence is a good athlete, but Fields is a better athlete. Fields. Where Fields needs a lot of work is sort of the subtleties and nuances of the position. He still has a tendency to break down and leave the pocket too early. He tends to play a little too fast mentally. And now he's got another coach going into a second year, so he's starting from scratch. He needs to continue to learn to play with more poise and patience from the pocket. So I don't know where it's going to go with Justin Fields, but I think Justin Fields is a high level talent. But you know, again, he's starting over. That's really hard for young quarterbacks to start over year after year. Fired up for it. Speaking of Trevor Lawrence, I'm

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 heard. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go on a Thursday, breaking news live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one one hour from now, Greg ko Sell. It starts on Thursday next twenty twenty five weeks. Greg Kosell on Thursday, second hour, Top of It. Jason McIntyre jmack is now joining us here on a Thursday. So I swear we have had the craziest string of luck or good fortune. We love when news breaks because it's spurgeent. Fans love it and breaking news and we're in that business. So thirty seconds ago, breaking news on Deshaun Watson, Big Deshaun Watson suspended eleven games, Colin five million dollars, finest Shin and Charpe just said, the largest ever levity to gets the player. And a lot of questions. Now for your Cleveland Browns, your Cleveland Browns, Jacoby Brissette heading into the season, all right, so let's start with that. According to various sources, this happened, you know, folks, about a minute ago. The NFL and the NFLPA there's going to be no lawsuit. They're agreeing to this. And this is how agreements go. You negotiate, you get some stuff you want. I get some stuff I want. So when the six game suspension came out, Sue Robinson, right, the former like judge, many people speculated, many people were speculating before she rendered a six game suspension, Deshaun may get none. Go back and look, there were those in the legal profession that said she was looking at the evidence and where was the criminal behavior? Remember there were no civil suits. Right, So then at six games, when that came down, I said, I'd double it to twelve, six games for the preponderance of evidence of unethical behavior, and then I would double it for line. He's never been up front about it, and so they have agreed to eleven games. Now, Roger Goodell wanted the season, But in negotiations you don't get everything you want. Deshaun Watson's camp was very happy with six. Remember DeShawn Watson's camp in the NFLPA when he got six games. You remember their reaction. They were very favorable, did not argue it, very satisfied. Why because they knew it was light. So Goodell comes in strong, calls it predatory. He's furious, basically saying, we're going to give this another goal around with another four retired attorney general in New Jersey who has a connection to the NFL, and so we were all kind of waiting for that right Well, during this process, the NFL, Goodell and the NFLPA have been negotiating and they have reached eleven games and a five million dollar fine. Again, that's a big fine. I mean that's the largest fine I've ever heard for a player. I mean, a million dollar fine is a seven figure fines, gigantic. A five million dollar finds a lot of money. I don't know. I'm sure there's been an owner, I don't off the top of my head. I'm sure there's been an owner five five million dollars or more. But for a player to get five million dollars. Fine, that's ten million in real money, right, so you got to give him five million cash. So it's eleven games. Listen, they're not gonna go get Garoppolo. I would imagine they're gonna go with Jacoby Brissette. He's been in the system, now he's got the coaches. This eleven games, he'll come back. His first game back would be Week thirteen against Houston. So let's look at the games. So week thirteen, you're gonna get at Houston, at Cincinnati, Baltimore, Saints, Washington, Pittsburgh, those games outside of Pittsburgh. Since he you're probably winnable with Jacoby Brissette. But you're not going to get him against the Chargers and Justin Herbert. You're not going to get him against Mac and the Patriots. You're not going to get him against Lamar and Burrow the first time. You're not going to get him with two on the Weapons or Josh Allen or Tom Brady. So it says here, I'm being told it's eleven games and the first game is week thirteen. So the NFL, remember they wanted there was a lot of talk it would be twelve games. My guess is they didn't want to Shaun on the field with Tom Brady, who is the biggest brand in the NFL. They didn't want to Shaun Watson anywhere near a Tom Brady game. Nowhere near tom By. Tom Brady doesn't want to Shaun Watson anywhere near here's brand. So the NFL, I think today, is satisfied with, Yeah, go to Houston, there's your first game. But most of the great quarterbacks they face are in those first ten, eleven, twelve weeks. Not gonna have him with Brady, not gonna have him, Josh Allen, not gonna have him the first time with Lamar and Burrow, not gonna have Justin Herbert. So certainly not going to have him week one against Baker Mayfield. So there you go. I think, you know, I don't think Cleveland in that division. I think Cincinnati's really good, Baltimore is really good, and I don't know how good Kenny Pickett's going to be or the quarterback situation. But Pittsburgh has got a lot of talent and no chaos and all sorts of playmakers on both sides of the ball. So it feels like to me this is a fourth place team and that's that's by the way, I got no problem with it. That's the price you pay for rewarding really bad behavior. And it's not just that Cleveland gave him a contract. It's not just that they gave him the only fully guaranteed contract that I remember in NFL history, two hundred and thirty some million dollars fully guaranteed. It infuriated the other owners. You see stuff in Baseball ten year contracts and the NBA, a lot of fully guarantee that you just don't do that in the NFL. So Jimmy Haslam had did curried no favor with any of these owners, so nobody in the ownership group was rooting for Cleveland. Jerry Jones years ago pushed back on the NFL when Zeke got what was it like, a six game suspension for bad behavior. Jerry has a lot of allies in NFL owners. He's made the league a lot of money. He's made a lot of owners a lot of money. His best friend in the league is Stan Cronky, owns the Rams. I think he's the richest. I think he's the richest owner in the NFL. He's the one that got Stan Cronky in the NFL to go to Vegas, which has been a home run, to go to Los Angeles, which has been a home run. Jerry Jones has a lot of fans in the NFL. He's made a lot of people money, and Jerry try to get Goodell fired. Reportedly it didn't work. So in this instance, this was a different situation, but very similar to it Donald Sterling where none of the owners were back in Sterling, Adam silverwalkedn't get out of here. None of the owners are back in the haslams here right, especially teams with them on the schedule. But that fully guaranteed contract felt like you're rewarding really predatory behavior. So some people won't like it. Some will, People can gripe, but the NFL and the NFLPA have reached a settlement, so I would imagine you're not going to get a lawsuit, not an attorney, but eleven games a massive five million dollars fine, and he'll return week thirteen against Houston, but I think at that point Cleveland will pretty much be toast. That is kind of my guess. So that's our story this morning. Yeah, Cleveland's buys in week nine didn't get a break there either, I think when it came out at six, we said it feels light, so they kind of doubled it, basically doubled it. And so I think people that are realistic about this stuff like they're gonna people people that are just outraged that he's ever playing a game. Folks, they're called negotiations. You know, you don't get everything you want in negotiations. The NFL probably didn't want a lawsuit. The NFLPA didn't have a track record of winning a lot of lawsuits against the Shield. They probably didn't want it either. So a couple of days ago, I think I said on the air, a couple of days ago, when Deshaun Watson and his camp had said, Okay, we'll take an eight game fine from six and five million dollars, I asked somebody, I forget who it was on the set, that feels like they'd go to ten. So they got six, and then it was six for a week. Goodell was furious, Right, Goodell's like, it's predatory. So Goodell throws it out there, this is not enough. He's telling his sponsors, that his fans, that the women who love the NFL, that he's telling other owners. Goodell sent the message out the bat signal this is not enough. Didn't hear a thing for a few days. Then you know, a few days later, Watson and his camp were like, Okay, we'll take eight games at a five million dollars fine. And I remember asking somebody and I forget who it was, that feels like they're willing to go to ten. So they went to eleven, and so I imagine Watson moved and his camp moved to ten pretty quick. The NFL was like twelve or nothing, because we had heard reports the NFL wanted twelve or the season. So Watson agreed to eight, which means he'd take ten. The NFL wanted twelve of the season, and they meet at eleven. That's what it feels like happened. And that's the way many of you, I'm sure listening or watching have been in negotiations. You've had an attorney for something, it could be for a million different things, and you negotiate. You get this. I get that the NFL wanted twelve of the season, Deshaun willing to take eight. They meet at eleven, and it does feel and this is appropriately like it kind of dooms the season. I don't think you should be rewarded for a fully guaranteed contract for somebody with really sketchy, ugly predatory behavior. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Deshaun Watson has been suspended for eleven games, meaning he will be eligible in week thirteen at Houston, his former home. He is not allowed to practice once the season starts, meaning he's got three weeks left to take first team reps with this group. So Cleveland's in a tough spot. Do you give him first team reps? Well, then what do you do with Jacoby Brissett? Because Jacoby Brissette is essentially the quarterback for seventy percent of this season? Are you not going to give him first team reps? Why waste them on to Shaun Watson? But once the season starts, to Shaun camp practice, so you're putting the season it's over, it's done. He's gonna come back, rusty. Did anybody see him play this past weekend? How bad Deshaun Watson was? Hasn't played in two years. So now the dilemma for Cleveland is do you give him these three weeks of practice to get the timing down a little bit. Then you're taking away snaps for Jacoby Brissette, who, by the way, the opening schedule for Cleveland, it's brutal week five if you look at it, Week five, Chargers, Belichick, Baltimore, Cincinnati two, and those weapons down in Miami, Buffalo, Brady. They'll be underdogs in all of those games. Wouldn't be shocked if they lost all of them. At Buffalo, at Miami, at Baltimore, those are losses. Okay, the first four games, Cleveland probably favored in three or four of those. Carolina, Jets, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, So you can give to Shaun Watson all those first team reps and get some semblance of timing down, but you're taking away reps for Jacoby Brissett and the first team, and the wins on this schedule with Jacoby Brissette are the first month. You do not want to be playing catch up because, by the way, did you see that Carolina already announced Baker's starting Week one, So they're already moving to Baker's getting the first team reps. They're already moving. They're not gonna mess around here. And so the Jets, you don't know who starts there. That's a break for Cleveland. So Cleveland gets a little break. Jets don't know who the starter is, by the way, we don't. We think it's Trubisky. That's a bit of a break. And then Atlanta Marcus Mariota. He's really talented, he's been hurt his whole career. We think he plays. So your first four weeks are a break for Cleveland. If Deshaun plays in the games, you're probably four and oh he doesn't Brissette, you can go three and one or four and oh those games. If you're Cleveland, you got way better roster than those teams. Cleveland is not rebuilding. I mean they are outside a receiver where they're thin, star back, star oh line, star pass rusher, Denzel Wards, star corner, great young linebackers. Cleveland will be favored. I'm guessing here. In the first four games with Jacoby Brissette, my guess is I'd take him in all four games. Pittsburghs go either way. So you gotta get Jacoby up ready and Roland for week one so I can't give to Shawn first team reps. And once the season starts, he can't practice, so he is gonna go Week thirteen. That's his first practice in three months, almost four So it's it's this is what Roger Goodell wanted. He did not want Deshaun Watson in the playoffs. He didn't want him to play anything this year, but he wasn't going to have him against Brady on national TV. He was knock, that's a Fox game. He's not letting that happen, and he's not letting them get to the playoffs. And those tough early games. Goodell looked at that schedule and thought, those are TV games. I'm not putting to Shaun Watson. I'm not rewarding him with TV games. Your first game back, nobody's watching down in Houston, maybe the worst team in the league. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine a Empacific fans, you consume the media all the time. You watch games, that's media. You read columns, that's media. You watch shows like this, that's media. But fans generally want stuff they agree with, or they want to hear what they want to hear. And so I've said three or four different sources have told me that Trey Lance has been a complete work in progress at practice, where one day is great, the next day's terrible. My buddy Mike Silver has heard the exact same thing from a coach on the staff that it's by the way, this is sponsored by credible great rates, none of the bull and so listen, fans get upset, Colin, why are you banging on Trey Lance. Well, the ringer came out with a story today on Trey Lance. According to this reporter, nobody's picking on the niners. They talk about Trey Lance had a very good day at practice. The story says, the next day, not good. Lance, who gets all the starters reps, miss more than half his throws. So he completed less than fifty percent of his throws at practice, including all but one of his final nine. So as last nine, his last nine passes at practice, he was one for eight. Practice where quarterbacks can't get hit. Later in the story, Kyle Shanahan, the head coach, admits, he's had some good days and he's had some rough days. I thought he had a rough day as last practice, so he'll bounce back. That is exactly what I've been saying for six months that the Niners have a super Bowl roster and a super Bowl head coach. I do not believe they have a accurate enough distributor of the football. By the way, in his two starts last year, he completed fifty nine percent of his throws. I was told six weeks ago, six weeks ago that the Niners contacted somebody outside of the building, a quarterback consultant. They were still concerned. So since his final year in college twenty twenty, Trey Lance has completed one hundred and one My bad. He has one hundred and one pass attempts in two years. He's got one hundred one pass attempts in real games, so he is raw. He has not played a lot. I looked at the Niners schedule this morning. In over half their games, they're not shutting teams down. They'll probably be in shootouts. Russell Wilson, Matt Stafford, mahomes At Stafford, Herbert Kyler, Murray, Tom Brady, Derek car Kyler Murray. Again, I'm not counting two on his weapons, Carson Wentz or Baker Mayfield, who would all at this point probably we kind of think they're better at this point, So fan bases I got news for it if you want news. Sometimes news isn't favorable. But the Ringer story is doubling down on what we heard. Exactly what we heard is that day to day you don't know what you're gonna get. And even last week in the win where he made a really nice throw down the sideline of his five completions, one of them out in a flat a layout for a burrow and Alan a lamar a layoup overthrown and the tight end had to go away, and that's a layoup. That's a three foot pot on the tour for starting quarterbacks. So I think San Francisco is a top five roster. I think they have a top five coach. But it is kind of maker break on this young quarterback raw not a lot of work. Even the college you went to was a power run offense. It was not quarterback centric. So how are they gonna do? I don't know, but the season's down to him, and the reports have always been absolutely entirely accurate. Check if you want exclusive insight from the biggest names in the sports game. What's good. This is national champion and former pro bowler Chris Johnson. And let me tell you a little bit about my new series kJ Live. kJ Live is the only show featuring me going one on one with the brightest basketball minds on the planet to get the real And when I say real, I mean that real. I got legendary Hall of famers, elite coaches, and the top basketball insiders bringing you a unique perspective on all things hoops culture that you will not find anywhere. Helps to make your next move your best move, and tap in with me on kJ Live wherever you get your podcast from. Baker Mayfield got the worst good news of his career. He's starting for Carolina. He's gonna start Week one for Carolina, so they want to get him reps and get him playing. The downside is they don't get a break here. The first seven games the Carolina Panthers play, and the Carolina Panthers O line is bad, even with upgrades. Pro Football Focus ranks at twenty fourth. It's a bad old line. They face Miles Garrett, the Saints, Arizona's got a great pass rush, San Francisco, Bosa, Aaron Donald, LA and Tampa with all their pass rushers. Even New York has three first round picks on the defensive line, they did not get a break in terms of pass rushes for a rebuilt offensive line that PFF has at twenty four. So you know, I say this all the time, and I've told my kids this. You better be ready in your twenties, your early twenties. You may get the best break of your life in your twenties twenty two years old. Be ready for it. It's a prime example. Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkeesian got great coaching breaks early. Lane wasn't ready for it. He wasn't mature enough to get the Raider's job up and running or USC. He blew it up. He wasn't mature enough. But he's a coach, and coaches get third, fourth, fifth chances. Lane now is a making a ton of money, crushing it at old Miss Steve Sarkeesian usc job too early, couldn't handle it, a lot of pressure, had anxiety, personal issues, blew up, bounced around. Now he gets the Texas Longhorn job. That's a top five job in college football. So in coaching, you can screw it up, you will get second and third chances. It's different for a pro athlete, especially a quarterback. You screw the first chance up, you'll never I mean the chances of you getting a great second opportunity are virtually none. And if you look at Baker, and this is what I'll say, he will never get an opportunity like that. He was beloved in Cleveland. He had more power than the coach. He eventually got Hugh Jackson and Kevin Stefanski, both offensive coaches. That's what the league's turning. He had a top three offensive line, he had Nick Chubb, he had stars at key positions, Miles Garrett, Denzel Ward, o b J Nick Chubb, pro bowler on the offensive line. He literally got this gift and he simply wasn't mature enough and ready for it. And now he's gonna be running for his life in the first seven weeks. So you know, this is the great example. Also in the division, Joe Burrow when he first got there, wasn't in the league. He's a pop. Big Ben was aging quickly. The Ravens were transitioning from Flacco to Lamar Jackson. Everything worked out for him. He gets Stefanski, He's got Denzel Ward. What are the best teams in the league have they have the star corner, the star edge rusher, the star receiver. They had ob J Denzel Ward, Miles Garrett, then Nick Chubb, great old line. This is what a second chance looks for in the NFL at quarterback when you screw up the first seven great pass rushes, rebuilt offensive line, and a coach in Matt Rule who's completely on the hot seat, completely on the hot seat. So I wish him the best. It's a good news, bad news. Congratulations, You're starting for the Carolina Panthers with a rebuilt offensive line against seven of the top twelve pass rushes in the NFL. Miles Garrett, who I think maybe the best week one? That is a rough one. 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. So let's move on to Greg coasl forty two years NFL films as we start our Thursday journey. So let's talk football. So George Pickens looks like the steel of the draft now steals a relative term second round. It wasn't fifth. But if I recall, you were on our show back in April, touting him, were you not? I was based on film and that's all I do. I don't get into the character and the other issues which teams do get into, which is why he did drop, by the way. But I thought he was the best receiving prospect in this draft class based on tape. I thought he fit the profile of an NFL boundary X receiver, the receiver that lines up to the short side of the field and can win one on one. His body type is similar to an AJ Green. He's very explosive off the ball column. He eats up space in a hurry. He's physical, he's competitive. I thought the tape said that George Pickens was the best receiving prospect in this draft class. I want to talk about Kenny Pickett. I said this. I think it was yesterday or the day before Greg. He has multiple advantages most rookie quarterbacks don't have. He played all of his college home games at the same stadium. He's twenty four, he was a four year starter. It looks like they landed Pickens. The Steelers have stability, Mike Tomlin. They've got an excellent young running back, an excellent young tight end. This is not the way it usually works for a rookie quarterback that you don't have stability, a top coach, real weapons, you're twenty four, you started four years, you played your home games in college at the stadium. My takeaway was this, and I'll just throw it at you if I'm Pittsburgh. If he's not ready now with this stability, you got the wrong guy. Good God. We gave Joe Burrow the dysfunctional Bengals, and even though he got hurt in year one, by week two we were all going, WHOA, Kyler Murray dysfunction. Week two we're all going WHOA. I kind of feel like you got to roll the dice with Pickens. He has built in advantages most rookies don't. Yeah, and I think they in some ways. They told you that they're saying all the right things now, of course, which all teams do. But don't forget they signed Trubisky. It's a deal they can get out of after one year. They know what Truebhisky is. Everybody does Colin. Yet they drafted Kenny Pickett with the twentieth pick in the first round. That really told you all you needed to know. And when you watch Pickett, obviously it's one preseason game. And I'm a firm believer and I say this all the time. I'm never defining a player's career on a preseason game. But Pickett just has the look and feel of an NFL quarterback. He's strong in the pocket, he's decisive, He's precise with his ball location. Does he leave the pocket too soon at times? Yes, that may come with experience. He can move, he has second reactionability. I think Kenny Pickett is their best quarterback and should be the Week one starter. Speaking of young quarterbacks, Jordan Love got a look. He threw three picks. He didn't get blamed for a couple of them. But this is my takeaway. You got an offensive coach, it's a non chaotic situation. You got Aaron Rodgers, who's a brilliant guy in front of you. Good backs. You know, I look at this and I think, okay, I'm moving into year three here, I gotta see some growth. I gotta see something now. There's too many of these guys pop in year one. Justin Herbert, Hey, you're starting. He plays the Chiefs, and it looks like immediately you got a guy. Are you seeing growth with Jordan Love? Well, what do you make of it? Yeah? I watched his preseason game, and of course I saw him through his college career. I still think he's a little inconsistent in some areas, and maybe at this point in time, that suggests he's not a true starting quarterback. His ball placement is too inconsistent. It needs to be more precise. He misses too many throws, and don't forget ball placement can also be a factor on completions, not just in completions, because run after catch is a function of the quarterback more than the receiver. I think his reads are still a little off at times. So you know, maybe this is who he is. He can make some phenomenal throws. He's got a big arm, he's mobile, he looks the part. But I think there's just some inconsistency and an erratic nature to some things that are important at the position, particularly decision making in ball location. Okay, the ringer had a story today. Kyle Shanahan admitted, Trey Lance accuracy day to day, you get good and bad. There's another source in the story that said, listen, he had a practice recently. Nine final throws, eight were incomplete. I watched him the other night. He hasn't thrown the ball much in the last three years. Here's My takeaway, you know the Kyle Shanahan offense, is it a demanding offense? Not all offenses are the same. Bruce Arian likes to throw all the ball way over the top. Josh McDaniels and Brady it was an efficiency offense, get the ball out quickly. When you look at Shanahan's offense and Trey lances potential accuracy issues. Can he elevate Trey? Can it work? Can you win eleven twelve games if you don't have a Joe Burrow as a thrower of the football. It's a great question, and I think it is a demanding offense for the quarterback in terms of the kinds of throws they ask him to make. Now, some of that could change because Lance has a bigger arm. For instance, with Jimmy Garoppolo, what did we mostly see, Colin. We saw throws between the numbers. Yes, And you can say what you want about Jimmy Garoppolo, but he threw those balls with conviction and he was a very good thrower between the numbers. Every once in a while he'd throw a head scratcher and we'd all you say, oh, he stinks, But he didn't stink. He was asked to make a lot of difficult throws. Now, Garoppolo did not have a big arm, did not throw outside the numbers much at all, and did not throw the deep ball real well. Lance does have a big arm, He can throw outside the numbers, and he can throw the deep ball. So the question is does Kyle tweak his offense and tweak certain things because Lance can do certain things better than Garoppolo, but then he can't do things that Garoppolo can do. But the accuracy always becomes an issue at times, and Lance, to me still has a little extra hitching. His giddea app and his delivery and fractions in this league matter, as you well know. So I think Lance will be a work in progress. You know, you were for years and years you had a different opinion on Russell Wilson, and over time you were probably right that he was creating some of his own sacks that you had said for years, five years ago, you're like, this stuff, this isn't ad lib. It looked like it's planned ad lib. You always found him a little bit of an enigma. And of course last year he gets hurt and has his worst year. So now he moves to a Denver offense which has two really good backs, a veteran and a young back, better role line than he had in Seattle, and some interesting weapons here. There's a lot of youth, but there's some really nice weapons here. And I'm interested, how do you think project how you think he fits and he finally gets an offensive coach how he fits in Denver? Well, This to me is one of the most intriguing sort of coach quarterback mixes of this season because Russell Wilson there's certain throws that he can't make, not because he's not capable of making the throw, because he's just small. So if you're going to have the quarterback be the foundation of your offense in the sense that you want to throw the ball thirty five forty times a game, keep in mind, Colin, there's a lot of short throws. There's a lot of sustaining throws. You know, you can look at it Tom Brady, how many times does he throw a five yard ball in at second and five? Then he might throw another five yard ball and he gets a first down. When you when the quarterback is the foundation, there's a lot of short throws. And I can tell you for a fact from talking to coaches who've coached him, there's some throws he can't make because he can't see. Yeah, So the question becomes, can he be that guy? We know he throws a great deep ball, we know he can drive the football, he's got a very good arm. We know about his second reaction ability. But they've also got two good backs, one in Javanta Williams, who I think can be special, and a pretty good old line. So what is their offense going to look like? Is this going to be a Russell Wilson offense or is this going to be a balanced offense. So my favorite part of the show when I pat myself on the back. So years ago, seven or eight years ago, I said, I know y'all love Aaron Rodgers, but I see stuff I don't love. I think on the sidelines he can be a finger pointer, an eye roller. I think sometimes he now just throws off the back foot. I think he plays better with a lead than behind. I think sometimes he checks out if he has a couple early picks, it's like he's protecting his passer rating. He is reluctant. He can be reluctant throwing to people unless he absolutely trust them. We saw that in the playoff game against San Francisco. So years and so I'm seen as a Rogers hater, but I've said before I prefer him over Farv, who was too much gunslinger for me and harder to coach. I like Aaron, but I do think there are things in his past. He really takes a long time to build trust with him, and we've seen this in his personal life. So I look at this young receiving corps. I got old Sammy Watkins who can't stay healthy. I got a Maori Rodgers who couldn't get on the field. I got three rookies, and I think to myself, Okay, and Alan Lazard, I think this could get really turbulent, this could this could be really interesting. What do you kind of what's your guests on how this a lot of moving parts and not a lot of experience with Aaron? What do you think it looks like? It's a great question, because you know, over the last two years, I thought Rogers really settled beautifully into Mattel of Flora's offense, but of course he had Davante Adams. Now he does not. I thought over the last two years he played from the pocket at a really high level, and say what you want about Rogers, maybe nobody has ever thrown the ball as well as Aaron Rodgers. So that's not the question. The question is trust. Is he going to play within the timing and structure of the pass game if he does not feel comfortable with his receivers, and he has shown as you said that if that's the case, he often does not turn it loose. Colin, I'm very curious. Now. I loved Romeo Dubs. He's another guy whose tape I really loved, and actually I compared his college tape to Davante Adams coming out of Fresno. Now a lot of people say, oh, Davante Adams the best receiver in the league, But as you recall the first couple of years of Davante adams career as a second round pick, by the way, he did not put up big numbers, there was a question as to what he would become. He's obviously become great for many reasons, but I think Dubs has a similar athletic skill set. Now, whether he turns into that, only time will tell, but I think your point about is very fair. Will he become more of a movement, improvisational, random player because he does not feel comfortable turning it loose within structure. By the way, Roquan Smith, So I had a big rant yesterday and people in Chicago mostly agreed with it. I said, listen, name a great receiver in Bear's history. You can't because they don't value it. It's always been a defense first, tough guy city. We're gonna punch in the mouth. We love our Mike Ditka, we love our Brian Erlecker. That was great for a long time. The world's changing. I mean I watched the Super Bowl where the Rams and the Bengals had suboptimal linebacking play. That used to be the position, the Lawrence Taylor, the Ray Lewis. The world's changing. So Roquan Smith has been there for a couple of years. He's not winning your games. To me, if he wants a new contract, I said, you have to consider getting somebody beyond cole Comment and Moody to throw the ball to. You got to make Justin Field's work. This thing has to work. And so I think by and large many agree, but I'm not denying. Roquan Smith is there, maybe their best player. So now he's got a defensive coach Justin Fields, I don't love if you keep Roquan Smith with Matt Eberflus the new defensive coach. Do they work together? Does his system work with this kid? Yes, Because keep in mind, Matt Eberflus is a very interesting defensive coach in the NFL. Obviously, he's the head coach now. On first and second down, Eberflus is pretty even nell in what he does on third down, He's incredibly multiple and incredibly difficult to play against. Okay, and that's what offensive coaches in the league will tell you. And keep in mind who he's just coached and who have become really good players. We know about Darius Leonard, Bobby o'karake has become a really good linebacker in Matt Eberflus's system in Indianapolis. Then not a lot of people talk about, but his tape is really good and he's a really good player. So you could make the argument from a football standpoint. You were talking bigger picture, Colin about the quarterback, which is always critical, obviously, but you can make the argument that Roquan Smith as a linebacker is in a great position with Matt Ebuflus as his defensive coach. Because Ebuflus knows how to use linebackers, particularly when he's in his sub packages. So Smith, hey, look, we don't begrudge anybody making a lot of money Collin, we know that. But he's in a really good spot if he stays in Chicago. So let's talk Justin Fields. I said this yesterday. I think at the end of this year, we're gonna look at these five first round quarterbacks. We're gonna acknowledge that Trevor Lawrence is the most talented, that Trey and Mack are going to win a lot of games based on where they landed, and that Zach Wilson and Justin Fields are not special enough to overcome some dysfunction in the organization. That is my guess. I think Fields looks the part your thoughts going into year too, and a full time starter for Justin Well. I think you could make the argument Colin that Justin Fields as a talent is more talented than Trevor Lawrence. I think he throws the ball better. He's a phenomenal athlete. He's I mean to Lawrence is a good athlete, but Fields is a better athlete. Fields. Where Fields needs a lot of work is sort of the subtleties and nuances of the position. He still has a tendency to break down and leave the pocket too early. He tends to play a little too fast mentally. And now he's got another coach going into a second year, so he's starting from scratch. He needs to continue to learn to play with more poise and patience from the pocket. So I don't know where it's going to go with Justin Fields, but I think Justin Fields is a high level talent. But you know, again, he's starting over. That's really hard for young quarterbacks to start over year after year. Fired up for it. Speaking of Trevor Lawrence, I'm