Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowhern on Fox Sports Radio. Oh here we go on a vibrant Monday. Lots and lots to talk about. It's Los Angeles, another wet cold front coming in. Like the rest of the country. It's the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for Megan as part of your day. What Colin Wright, Colin wrong? One hour from now? Plenty of bolt, A lot of stuff. What a fun weekend. I know it probably isn't healthy, but sitting on my couch watching college basketball from Friday afternoon until late last night as gonzagabat t see you in a very good game. I can't say the last time. I mean, during the NFL season, you and I football season, you get a lot of that. But I just sat there and I know college basketball the high end the NBA talent isn't what it used to be, but it's more of a defensive tournament. But boy, the energy and the intensity wasn't it great? Unbelievable stuff, coward. And you know, at the risk of tuting my own horn, I'm leading two bracket contests after the first weekend and in the Fox Sports Radio talent pool. Take a guess who's number one right here? Baby, it was a great weekend of basketball. Well it wasn't great for me that way, but I gotta start with this. Here's what's left. Eleven conferences represented in the final sixteen teams. That's pretty cool, but it goes beyond that. Forget the brackets for a second. Just let's talk parts of the country. The West fans out west. Gonzaga is in IT, Ucla is in IT. San Diego States in IT. Let's go to the south. How about Arkansas they were dead middle of the season. Arkansas in it, Texas in IT tennis season it, boy, they have a second half against Duke. How about the Midwest? Craighton's around, Xavier's around, and tom Izzo and Sparta are still alive. How about the East? Princeton, Yukon just forget the brackets. Look, college football is never gonna give you that the one and done in the transfer portal. What you can complain about it and you don't like it, and sometimes I think there needs to be guardrails, but it works for college basketball. I mean, Princeton isn't lucky. Princeton's pretty good. I watched Florida Atlantic, They're talented. I watched San Diego State. Damn they're good. I mean, right now, Gonzaga is a better basketball program than Kentucky, and San Diego State's better than arguably everybody in the Big Ten. Sorry they are. With a transfer portal, you can make remake your roster in six weeks what Arkansas did. You can go from wobbly to loaded in a couple of months. College football is more popular and there's more professional bodies on the floor, but college basketball is endless. Hope. Arkansas is a great example. At one point they were what eight and ten in the SEC. I mean, you have two losses by October in college football, enjoy a second tier bowl game. Not here eight and ten middle of the season for Arkansas. I watched them play Kansas. My takeaway was, I don't know. I think they're better. We have sixteen teams left from thirteen states, and you know, I love my college football, but three states are overwhelmingly and I can tell you who they are right now control college football this year. One will be from Georgia, one will be from Alabama, in Ohio or Michigan, take your pick. This year at maybe Michigan. And it's March and college football season doesn't start for six months. And I love the sport, but it's too regional. That's why over the last decade the ratings have gone down. I don't know if it's the one and done. I don't know if it's the transfer portal. I had a blast watching this weekend, and I know the athletes are better now than ever. But if they're really good, they're off to the NBA. But there's just enough offensive talent and just enough talent overall to make it really compelling. I had a blast. College football now is the SEC Big Ten Invitational, occasionally add in an Oregon or at Clemson or in Oklahoma. That's what it is. Again. I can tell you who's in next year's playoff, at least two to three of them. So complain all you want. You can complain about things in life where you can embrace it, because most stuff, most cultures here, it's changing, adapt or die. I thought it was spectacular, forget just the brackets, the East, the West, Plaine States, Midwest. I thought it was absolutely fantastic basketball. I couldn't take my eyes off it. And it doesn't matter that Drew Timmy probably won't be a great NBA player. He's a great college player. And that's fine too, all right, So this is interesting. You know, everybody wants to tell you how valuable they are, how important they are, and that's fine. We all should have a little bit of vanitive not terrible, right. I know they say pride before the fall, but it's okay. Feel good about yourself. But ultimately you'll be judged your value as a professional athlete or an actor or I'm going to see a movie premier tonight. I never go see those things. Air the MJ story, Matt Damon, and your value is when you're on the open market. And isn't this interesting? According to Albert Breer, teams not not in the Aaron Rodgers sweepstakes are saying they would not give up a first round pick for him. They would give up the Jets would give up a second this year and then a conditional pick next year. Now think about that. Two years ago, Matt Stafford, with a losing record, went for two first round picks, a second round pick, and a super Bowl quarterback Jared Goff Aaron Rodgers today second round pick, maybe a third round or next year conditional prickly not committed, kind of old. If Patrick Mahomes was available on the market today, we were discussing this as a team this morning. I got his five first round picks minimum minimum in perpetuity until he retires. I mean, give him five first round picks. Third's force in a player, I mean, good God. Tyree Kill, a wide receiver, went for five picks. Christian McCaffrey, a running back that struggles to stay healthy, went for a collection of picks. I know, I know, I know you think I'm picking on Aaron. This is what the market is telling you. And that's why Green Bay and the Jets are in a bit of a stalemate. Is because the Jets are like, we like him, We're not giving you a first round pick, doesn't commit to the offseason. We just watched him with young wide receivers. It wasn't great. We can't get him to really commit to us for anything beyond this year. You got to combine all this stuff when you're talking about a guy's market. It's not just well, a couple of years ago he won the MVP. Is he committed? Is he healthy? Is he in good shape? Does he come into camp focused? Is he willing to go to OTAs with young wide receivers and young backs and a rebuilt offensive line. But it's very interesting Tyreek Hill went for five picks a wide receiver right now, Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson would go for more than a first round pick, and the word on the market with Aaron Rodgers a first ballot Hall of Famer, no argument a second rounder this year, and then we'll figure out if he plays next year, maybe a third. The market tells you what you're worth. I don't, and you don't. Mark Slaathon last week on the potential trade compensation for Ar. I don't know that they want him. I can suffer, but they definitely want to try to maximize the value. So then you have to ask yourself what is the value? What is the value in regards to draft picks and potential compensation from that standpoint versus the value of just getting that number off your salary cap. And so you know, I think the Jets are playing that game, like ey, dude, you can't carry that number on your salary cap. So eventually you've got to make a deal with us, and we're not going to give you the capital that maybe the Broncos gave a thirty four year old quarterback in Russell Wilson last year. It's very interesting. Lamar Jackson today doesn't have much of a market. Aaron Rodgers doesn't have much of a market. So make of it what you will. The market determined your value. I don't. The media doesn't. Second round pick and maybe something next year. If he plays, that's it. So I going back, Colin right, Colin wrong, in one hour from now, going back to the tournament, I had quinning at all. But I did think one of the things I really liked watching this tournament is that the teams are younger than ever because obviously the transfer portal guys moving around, and I think if you're Mike Schevski and you're Jay Right or your Roy Williams and you're older, it's a lot. But I'll say this and I'll say it about college football. I watched college football last year. I watched USC and LSU Brian Kelly and Lincoln Riley literally turn chaotic programs around in one season, and both LSU and USC got the offense right very quickly. It's very hard in college football to solve both sides of the ball in one transfer portal and recruiting class. Very difficult, but they both Brian Kelly at LSU Big Brand, USC Lincoln Ronny big Brand, they definitely solved one side of the ball. But in college basketball it's different. You get three really good players like an Arkansas, You've solved everything. You can solve. Your guard you can solve. I mean, I'm watching Tennessee beat Duke. And by the way, I am four. Like Kentucky's model is go heavy, heavy, heavy into eighteen year olds in high school five star. But last year, never forget that Kentucky won the national championship and they had five star guys, but their leading scores were a senior and two juniors. So Kentucky's got become a little bit of a turnstyle. And what happens is you often have very young players playing against older players. So I'm watching like Texas this weekend. Texas got seniors. Texas has seniors everywhere. That's a big advantage when you're playing in eighteen to nineteen year old and your guys or twenty two and can push young guys around. Never forget, it's hard to winning it as good as the Fab five was. It's hard to win a college championship with eighteen nineteen year olds, and it's hard to win in the playoffs with twenty three year olds. As good as all these young guys are in the NBA, the history tells you old guys well, Boston, Milwaukee, you know, even Denver has got some veteran players. That's what wins in basketball these days. 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. One of the differences of college basketball Michigan State, I think he shot twelve percent from three and one. Kansas State couldn't hit the broadside of a boat in the first half. I think they were over twelve on threes, and I think they led Kentucky. So in the NBA, it's very much driven by the three pointer, not good or bad. It's just I tend to like layered basketball. I like having a classic big school Drew Timmy for Gonzaga down low. I like that. But Kentucky's a fascinating story because last year they lost to Saint Peter's. Now losing in the tournament. The great coaches of all time lost on the tournament a lot, Mike Schevsky, Roy Williams, Bill self. It's okay, last year they lost to Saint Peter's. That's not acceptable for Kentucky. That would be Alabama. You know, ten years into Nick Saban's losing a home to Troy. He just can't do that. So here are the teams that have made the Final Four since the last time Kentucky did. There's eighteen. Many of these are football schools. Auburn, Baylor, Duke, Gonzaga twice, Houston, Kansas, Oregon, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Michigan State, Michigan, Loyola of Chicago, South Carolina, Syracuse, Texas Tech, UCLA can't wait for Ucla Gonzaga. What a game that'll be Villanova Virginia. So there's a three year trend for Kentucky and they are underachieving. His fair I think it's temporary. They were the first to really embrace the one and done and they deserve a ton of credit for it. And they had a lot of success. They did win a national championship, won just one, they still won and they deserve credit for it. Then Duke came in, Kansas came in, and those guys have both won a title since. And it should be noted again when Kansas won the title last year, their three scorers leading scorers were two juniors and a senior. I think Kentucky's in a weird spot where they're not quite sure what they are. Are they going to go back to the high school five star players, That's what I would do, Or are they going to do the transfer portal? They could nibble at that, but I would go back to what they do really well, it's a great program. I'd go back heavy to the high school kids. Some will be one and done, not all of them will be, but right now Villanova and Gonzaga, I would prefer doing it that way. I don't want the drama. I don't need five stars. I don't like the turnstyle college programs like Kentucky. I think it's harder to coach, harder to create chemistry. And you know, Texas their best eight players, six or seniors. I like that, bigger, stronger, physical men, not kids. But Kentucky's had a great deal of success. I think they're trapped in the middle. Do they want to be a transfer portal team that certainly works. Do they want to be a five star one and done program? They had great success with that. But next year Kentucky's five best players I looked this morning at recruiting, four of them will be high school players that may be their best avenue and go very light in the transfer portal making a glamour program with the high school kids. But I mean at and T is doing a commercial making fun to Kentucky one and done. We can make fun of it. But they had a lot more success just doing that than what they are. Now here's John Calipari after I understand what this program's about, and I think again, that's what makes it what it is. And that's why I tell players, this isn't for everybody because the expectations are so high, and the same with coaching, it's not for everybody. This thing is there's a high expectation level, and it is Kentucky. You put that on the other team's going to play out of their minds and they're gonna play like they have nothing to lose, and that means you got to play that way. Yeah, Listen. The reality is he's a great recruiter and a great salesman. He's always been fair to the media, sometimes feisty. I think he deeply cares about his kids. He's built this program up. Kentucky basketball can be a hornet's nest, you know, with Duke. Not that it Duke is easy, but it's a small school that there's an academic lean. I always feel like it just works as a basketball school with its academics and its history and everybody, the professors, the athletes, everybody's all in. You know, Kentucky. You had Calipari this year, sparn with a football coach, So I think it's a hard job. There's media swarming all over it. The expectations are out of this world. But I do think they're kind of caught in a weird place. I feel like Duke Gonzaga, UCLA, I think they know what they are and I feel like Kentucky's got to go back to being sort of this glamour program with the high school stars. That's what they are, that's what they won with. I think he's a really good teacher. Whether he's the best XS and O's coach, I don't know. I'm not a coach. I don't know. I never think Kentucky's poorly coached. I've asked some coaching friends. They think Kentucky's well coached. So we'll but right now they're underachieving, and five years ago they were the glamour program, so success is hard. There's animosity. Duke nibbled away at their success, and right now, you know, Duke's in a better spot overall as a program, despite Mike Schevsky being gone. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine am Pacific. Odell Beckham is denying that he wants twenty million. There was a story that came out a couple weeks ago, and we kind of rolled our eyes at twenty million. I would love to have Obj and my team as a number two or a three receiver. He's as talented as a number one receiver. He's not Jeffin Jefferson. I don't think he's Jamar Chase Stefon Diggs, but he's really, really talented. I'd love to have him on my team. I would love to have him as a number two. I thought the Rams used him brilliantly. He had Cooper Cup as the volume wide receiver, OBJ kind of the burner up the field wide receiver, Van Jefferson as a three user tight ends mcvay's offense. Matt Stafford, I thought it was great, and he was having a great super ball. Then you know, he's thirty years old. He's increasingly brittle. I'm not building my franchise around him. But the twenty million dollars he is saying, he didn't put that out there. But he also had a tweet this weekend saying, I think I'm worth more than four million dollars. I actually think four to six is where the market is at. Here's the problem. He plays a wide receiver. He plays a position that college football now gives the NFL more than any position in football. College football produces twenty receivers a year they give to the NFL. They don't you know, there's maybe one great edge rushier a year, maybe two. There's two great quarterbacks. There, maybe two great left tackles, four or five good running backs. Very few great interior defensive linemen. Literally, college football gives the NFL twenty receivers a year, and six or seven make big, big rookie impacts. So there used to be a term called diva wide receiver, and it's over. There's two need Davante Adams and Cooper Cups. There's too many Mike Evans, Chris Godwins. There's too many guys out there. You get no drama. And I'm not anti OBJ, but he comes with drama. I thought he did a pretty good job in Cleveland, came to LA. He likes attention. That's okay. He's young. I get it. He makes a lot of money on Instagram and social stuff and shoe stuff. Totally understand it. But I don't think he has much of a market. In nineteen ninety five, Nebraska the best college football program. In the nineties, Nebraska had one wide receiver on the field most of the game. Now, Alabama is a wide receiver school. Ohio State is a wide receiver school. These programs that were known for defense and toughness and linebackers and corners and those are wide receiver schools. So you know, I think gob J is absolutely worth suthing, But Kansas City got rid of their dramatic wide receiver, Tyreek Hill got five picks and won a Super Bowl with a bunch of number two and number three cast offs and a rookie wide receiver. Now it's Mahomes. I get it. But you start looking around the NFL not not been a lot of drama on Super Bowl winning teams. There's not a lot of drama, and I do think with Obj that's part of it. So you got the brittle thing, the drama thing. I think he works hard, he never gets tired. He's in an unbelievably conditioned athlete. He can be spectacular, he's fast, But thirty brittle at the wrong position is not a place I'd want to be if I was Odell Beckham. The other thing, speaking of wide receivers, I saw the Cowboys picked up Brandon Cooks. So this story kind of cracked me up. So everybody's freaking out. So Dallas gave up a fifth and a sixth round pick to get Brandon Cooks from Houston. That's what they got for Amari Cooper. I'd rather have Amari Cooper. Amari Cooper last year, nobody was watching, but Amari Cooper last year was sensational. Nine touchdowns, seventy catches with Jacoby Brissette and a rusty to Sean Watson. Amari Cooper last year was sensational, but they had to let him go because of the Z contract and because they overpaid Dak. So if you gave me this morning, Seedee Lamb, Amari Cooper and Dalton Schultz, that is an elite receiver tight end group. If you give me Brandon Cooks, Seedee Lamb and maybe Dalton Schultz who may get an offer, nothing special. So again lesson learned. Hopefully for Dallas. I got nothing against Brandon Cooks. There's been some concern with concussions. He may retire very soon. This would be his FIFTHEAM in eight seasons. So and what would worry me about Brandon Cooks who bailed on him, Sean McVay bailed on him, Sean Payton bailed on him, Bill Belichick moved off him. Those are three of them. If you threw Andy Reid in there arguably four of the best coaches in the last decade in the NFL. So I think Brandon Cooks is fine. He can run, he's really fast, but McVay moved off him very quickly. Belichick did, Sean Payton did. He's not solving anything for Dallas. If Ceedee Lamb twisted an ankle in week two, Brandon cooks, he's your number one. You're not a playoff team, so I'm not anti. But there's some concussions. How durable fifteen and eight years great coach has moved off him. I think this has been the off season of the Dallas Cowboys, not adding great players, hopefully learning a lesson. Do not pay a running back two years early because the owner likes him, and do not wait until the very end. So Dak Prescott has more and more momentum. Pay him early. Pay him in the twenties, not the forties. I got nothing against Dak, but he's Kirk Cousins with a better brand. You can't be paying him top of the market. It's like pan Ryan Tannehill top of the market. You can't do it. You just can't do it and afford good players. So that's where we stand today. Colin right, Colin wrong, next hour. Something else that jumped out to me over the weekend. So when I watch college football, if you watch an SEC game or even A, Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, LSU Georgia. When you watch big games, it looks a lot like the NFL. Four wide NFL bodies everywhere because in college football you have to stay minimum three years. Most guys stay four. But in college basketball you don't. You can want and done it. So there's a lot of young talented players. I've always said college basketball is a bit like an airport. Nobody, you know, nobody really wants to be there very long, especially if they're talented. It's an apartment complex, it's an airport. People want to get there, get situated, getting the next plane, getting the next place to live. But Drew Timmy's fascinating, So I think sometimes it bothers college basketball fans that some of their best players are not built for the NBA. Drew Timmy's not built for the NBA. He would be exposed defensively. He doesn't shoot from the perimeter. He's a back to the basket, mostly old school guy who's a tremendous college player. He blocks some shots at the college level, not that he couldn't do that in the NBA, but he's not don't I view him as a late second round player. He doesn't shoot threes like the kid at Perdue. He doesn't shoot threes. Neither one both could be exposed if you go think about this, If you go to the last ten most outstanding players in the tournament, the last ten a decade, that's a real fair sample. One has been a stud in the NBA. Anthony Davis one of ten, ten percent. And Anthony Davis is different. Anthony Davis is bigger, longer, stronger, runs the floor, could handle the ball. And it's nothing against Drew Timmy, but I think he is the classic great college basketball player. And that's okay. College basketball doesn't even look like the NBA. In the NBA, if you're all for sixteen shooting threes, you're in big trouble. Kansas State couldn't hit a three pointer in the first half. I think they led Kentucky. Michigan State's been terrible at it, and if you watch Michigan States win, it really came down to defense. They're big, got a couple of crucial blocks at the end of the game and that's why they won the game. One about offense, nobody's very few teams in this tournament. Now we're gonna win because of offense. It's a defense and coaching tournament. That's fine, but that's not what the NBA is not. The defense doesn't matter, but on most regular season nights and a lot of playoff nights, you gotta hit threes. You gotta score points. Remember this, as people always talk about great defenders. The glove love didn't stop Michael Jordan. Nobody ever stopped Kobe. Bill Russell's the greatest defensive player all time. Wilt Chamberlain scored forty and fifty points I'm sure more than once against Bill Russell. Wilt Chamberlain scored on everybody. Michael scored on everybody. Kobe scored on everybody. You know right now in the NBA, M Durant can score on everybody. It just doesn't matter. Booker can score on everybody. So Devin Booker. So I think Drew Timmy is a terrific college player. And that's it, And that's okay. College basketball doesn't look like the NBA at all. College baseball doesn't look, frankly a lot like Major League baseball. But college football does, and it's why it gets bigger ratings. It does look like a reasonable fact simile to the NFL. You're getting three and four year You're getting men playing against men with NFL bodies everywhere forced to stay into college minimum three years. Most guys stay four, s stay five. It's not what college basketball. A lot of the best players are nineteen years old. They're not refined, they're not polished. You see all the time in the NFL where a guy comes into the NFL from college and Jamar Chase is immediately an elite, elite NFL player at his sauce gardner elite player. Very rarely do you see a college basketball player come in. They have weight issues, injury issues, they hit a wall in game sixty. They're not refined offensively, they get even Lebron James out of high school got totally exposed offensively his first year and a half two years in the NBA. He could score great in transition, they didn't how to play defense then playing high schoolers his whole life. Two NBA Insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you right into the NBA Grade five, all happening in only one place, this league Uncut The New NBA Podcast with me Chris Haynes and me Mark Stein join us as we team up to expound on everything we're covering, hearing and chasing. Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. You know the Michael Jordan mythology in America. Michael was obviously a great player, but it is interesting Magic Johnson went to thirty percent more finals. You can criticize me, Magic Lebron James blows all of MJ's awards away, all his records. You can criticize Lebron if you ever criticize Michael. It's like whoa well. And it's all part of the greatest marketing campaign in the history of America for sports, Air Jordan. I like where this is going? No, I mean that's he made two hundred and twenty million last year on it. So Nike revolutionized sports marketing and the greatest campaign they've ever had is Air Jordan and Michael learned it. You know, the Jumpman, the logo, it's all earned, but it is may. It has created this protective shield around Michael that if there's any criticism, all the fanboys, half the people defending him never saw him see him play and it's like, well, he's always been a winner. He won in college. A lot of people when at Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, been a lot of players that well. The Olympics, Yeah, he had some help on that team beating Tunisia. Okay, nobody's saying Michael's not great. But Michael's early career was marked by a lot of scoring and pissing off teammates. And then Phil Jackson showed up. And then he went to baseball that didn't work, and then he came back with Pippin again, didn't win any championship. He won one playoff series without Pippen ever, and so and then he gets out of it, goes to Washington. That's a mess ownership. He made a lot of Michael's always been good at elevating Michael and deserves all the credit for him. I'm sure Air will be unbelievable. I'll be rooting for the Michael Jordan's story tonight. Anything Affleck and Damon do I love. But the point is Magic's had thirty Every superstar in the history of sports you can criticize except Michael. I was at games. I watched him. He had bad nights. He was selfish, he was hard to play with at times. By the way, punched the teammate. And you know what the reaction was, Well, he's very competitive, he's a leader. Draymond punched the teammate. What's the difference. Draymond doesn't have that force field, that Nike force field around him. Michael was relentless, sometimes a bad teammate and probably the most lamorous basketball player and the best basketball player ever. Check check. I'm a huge MJ fan, But that that Air Jordan marketing effort by the greatest marketing sports company in the history of the world, Nike create. You know, we had We've had presidents and politicians like this, where Ronald Reagan for a while was so popular he joked about bombing Russia and we all went, ah, he's just your crazy old grandpa. That's what popularity does. Yeah. How many how many rings for Jordan without Phil Jackson? How many playoff series wins? Series wins without Pippin again, and by the way, when Jordan left, when he quit in, I think it was seven wins to fifty five. Yeah, it's amazing. Scottie Pippen led the team to that many wins. If Hugh Hollands makes a collie should have they get to the finals. And again this isn't criticism. These are all facts. By the way, what happens when Lebron leaves a team like Cleveland, Crash or Miami, they're literally and what Lebron's won with different coaches at every up, very different French anywhere he goes, they win championships. Every what happens, And by the way, none of this is a criticism. These are just all facts. Yeah. I always think it's interesting Michael punched a teammate, a beloved teammate. There's a very competitive Draymond punches, not a beloved you know, kind of a bench player who trash talks a lot. Jordan Poole talented, not a beloved figure. And it's like, throw him out of the league. Well, it can't. He be relentless and competitive too. He's an intimidating player. That's you know. I don't think either one was in the right, but let's be fair about it. Let's be reasonable. But you can't want to have one guy thrown out of the league and the other guy, well he's just a very competitive guy. It's weird. You can you just said a bunch of nice things about Michael Jordan's But if someone on the internet will cherry pick one or two maybe negative, which are facts, and all of a sudden you hate. Michael's the most relentless player I've ever seen, the best looking, the most glamorous, the coolest, the most the best offensive player, well, Kareem's the best offensive, best finisher a game unbelievable, So put that on your little rant. But but in the end, he was flawed like everybody else. He struggled with teammates, He ran through coaches. The Washington situation was a mess, the pre Phil stuff in Chicago, he was going through coaches and teammates. But remember he was going against the Celtics in the Pistons call. They were loaded. That's the argument against Georgy. He was too young. Okay, I'm not this is an anti Michael. I'm going to watch. I don't go to movie premieres. I'm going because out of respect. I think he's great and I think he's gonna be honest. By the way, the MJ documentary is the best sports documentary of my life. I thought the ten part oh, I thought it was absolutely And then by the way, the whole. I gave him three months of free publicity. I thought, this is unbelievable. I made me love In fact, I said, after that they tried to pick apart some bad Michael stuff, I'm like, I like him more. Yeah, well, Michael had final say over everything. But I remember the record, Eastern religion is within Western religion. America is worshiping men worship other men. It's like Michael wasn't perfect. Michael had flaws, Michael had bad games, Michael was tough to deal with. Michael's always been about my elevating Michael. Michael's made Michael rich, even in this Charlotte mess. Yeah, you call a morass, just awful, But again he made his bunch of money, and I'm I don't resent any of it is. He was really a convergence of so many things, grace and toughness, winning looks, glamour style. But he had two pills, Phil Knight and Phil Jackson that took him from great player to iconic legend that you can't criticize. And it's like, I love Brady Scott flaws human be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon. Easter not a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Where Colin was right, well, I speculated Aaron Rodgers Green Bay Jets was being held up because he probably asked the Jets to go get some players for him. A couple hours later, Diana Rusini came out with a wish list that included Packer players. Now Aaron denied it, but it should be noted that Jets did sign Alan Lazard, who they certainly wouldn't have signed if not for pursuing Aaron Rodgers, who wanted a veteran receiver who we liked. So we got that one right on erin Where Colin was raw Duke That duke went in the title. John Shire had a very good year one twenty seven and nine. They played well down the stretch, but they were outclassed by Tennessee. This was not a good break. Tennessee was a significantly better team. Their defense shut down on Duke and they won and should have won. Where Colin was right, Baker Mayfield signed with the Bucks a backup financial contract, fourth team six seasons. It's funny all the fanboys that used to bang on me, they went awfully quiet. They disappeared vanished. Maybe internet's not working at their little house. Baker Mayfield was always a reach at number one, and his personality as hutzpah eventually wore people out. The now, I got nothing against Baker. He is one of the thirty two best quarterbacks in the world. I'm sure I'll win a handful of games down in Tampa, but this is a backup quarterback contract. The days of building around him are over, and probably the days of starting long term or over. Where Colin was raw. My Warriors optimism is fading. They have lost six of their last ten. Do you know they haven't won a road game since January. Andrew Wiggins absence it's a private matter and it's very possible he won't return. They have fallen to seventh in the West, and the truth is they've tried to bridge a gap between the old and young guys this year. It's been hard. Wiggins absence makes it just too hard to defensively to get stops. They feed off the energy at home. You put him on the road without that energy, and they're just an incredibly average team. Where Colin was right and critical at John Calipari for years. I know he loves his players, he really does, and I know he's a great salesman. But in the end, the last three years he's gone nine sixteen, got bounced out of the tournament by Saint Peter's and this year got beat by a less talented team. Kansas State has some good players, but they're not as talented as Kentucky. Eleven years, no titles, they can't be this average. I do think they're kind of trying to figure out do they want to be transfer portal or one and done. I think they're best serve going back to the high school all star stuff next year. They have like four or five great high school players. That feels glamorous. It feels very much on brand for Calipari in Kentucky, and I do expect them to bounce back with a good year. Where Colin was raw the Dan Campbell thing in Detroit, now you got Cam Sutton sand players around the league want to play for him. They had a very good free agent class. They went and fixed their secondary. They got a good B B plus running back out of Chicago, so I got to give him credit. You know, those players aren't going to Detroit because of their historic success. They're going there because they like Dan Campbell, so the Lions coach who may have butchered that Openings conference. He's got some alpha. I think last week somebody, maybe Jamack You compared him a little bit to Mike Tomlin and Mike Vrabel. He's sort of a guy's guy, big emotion, and the players like him. I was wrong where Colin was right. The Celtics five and five in their last ten. I've got doubts about this team. I don't think they'll beat Milwaukee. I have doubts about them in close games. They lost to the Rockets recently. I questioned their head coach. Is he a playoff coach that can go toe to toe with the doc Rivers or an Eric Spoelstra Budenholzer. I don't. I don't know if he is. And I also I always questioned Jason Tatum, who I think is a top eight nine player. I'm not doubting that, but there are times when I watched the Celtics and close games where it feels like the alpha is Jalen Brown and Tatum's just a really the more talented player. But the Celtics right now have dropped a third where Colin was row well. The betting markets have CJ. Stroud right now is the number one quarterback to go. I think he's fine. I don't see the wow in him. I think he's talented and depending on where he lands, he could be successful. But I've said before I think Bryce Young from Alabama is much more polished, could walk into the NFL and play right now. I don't know Bryce Young small five ten and a half. I don't know how long it lasts. But the betting markets right now with Caroline and the number one pick have them going after c J. Strout. And I was wrong where Colin was right. I have been on the offensive head coach bandwagon for years. Three teams that I thought did really well in free agency. Cincinnati offensive coach went and got a star left tackle Carol Lina Adam Feelin adding offensive pieces. Frank Wright offensive coach, and I think Denver's crushed it, rebuilt their offensive line offensive head coach Sean Payton. Meanwhile, Ron Rivera showing no urgency at quarterback, and Chicago paid two linebackers. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week days and noon Easter nine am Pacific. So J Mack was saying, when are we going to talk about the draft. So t J. Hushman Zada, eleven years in the NFL pro bowler, works with a lot of these young kids. He was the one that three years ago came on this show and said Justin Herber is gonna be great, and we were like great and he was great. He gives us all these pre draft jims. So you're working with the young quarterbacks again. Yeah, we're just talking with J Mack. I know J Mac likes to whop. You don't want to see Bryce or CJ on the basketball court, Well, let's talk Bryce. Young athlete, very very like. Bryce's super athletic, can hoop, can play basketball like on the field, he'll just mess around and do releases like that's receiver work. It's quick, looks good doing that. He's just he can pretty much do whatever. He's that good of an athlete. Okay, not big, kind of light one. He's not tall. He's gotten thicker. He's put on some way. He's consistently two hundred every day every day. So you guys wi him, Well, I ask him what you win? He just smiles two O four two five two o two. How's his arm strength? Very good? He's so accurate, like arm strength can be overrated at times. If you throw an anticipation, Um, it doesn't matter. We got some guys out there that can run. John Ross is out there. He overthrowing Ross and it's nothing. Ross can run, can run. And so Bryce is just extremely accurate. Throws in anticipation. If you just watch when we're training, like he'll put his body in certain situations. Guy's running a deep over route. Bryce is drifting one way, throws the ball accurately in stride. You know it's not it's always a good throw, always, Yeah, he sees the field well, quick release, you say, good enough arm and super athletic, super athletic. Any when he's not getting out of the pocket to run, he's getting out of the pocket to throw the ball. And that's what you want. And that's today's quarterback is the most successful ones that are mobile. But they're mobile to throw, not mobile to run. All right. CJ. Strout's another California kid, goes to Ohio State. Very accurate, good size, here's my knock, what's the it? Where is he great? I see a lot of good where's the juice? Where's the wow? And you don't know with any of these guys coming out. But CJ is a bigger guy, another guy, extremely accurate, really good arm. What I like about CJ is this is off the field. Whoever the fifty and I was. I've told people this, whoever's the fifty third guy on a roster, He's gonna make them feel like they're the first guyon a roster. Nice guy. That's just who he is. He's gonna make everybody feel important. And that goes a long way when you're the quarterback where you feel like, oh, I may be on a practice squidder, I may not play. He's not gonna treat him that way. That's off the field. On the field, I think because he played with Ohio State and their receivers are constantly getting drafted unbelievable. They're like, all great. But you go look at the quarterbacks of the last few years that have been drafted outside of Herbert, their receivers go to the league and do well. I mean, you look at Joe Burrow with Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase to the top five receivers in the league. You look with Bryce Shun played with at Alabama. He's gonna play with better receivers at Alabama that he's gonna go to the league and play with and so I don't hold that against CJ. That he played with really good receivers. He's accurate, he has a really good arm. He's smart, he understands the game of football. But these kids need to get drafted to a team that's not in chaos. You want something to be functional, not dysfunctional. You go to a dysfunctional franchise. You have to be Trevor Lawrence Good. You have to be like Andrew Luck And you can be Trevor Lawrence Good. If urban Meyer stays there, Trevor Lawrence is going to be considered a bust. So let's go who else do you got in camp? Will LEVI? Will Levis is what Jordan Palmer. Let me ask this. He's a little muscular for my taste. He's not real fluid, big arm. Is he fluid enough? He throws the ball differently. It's weird, but it's different. It is different when you watch the other guys throw. It's his throwing motion is different. But man, it's what you said. He's big, he's muscular, but I don't I don't know if he's too muscular. He's just kind of reminds me of Tim couch Or, even though they went to Kentucky. A big guy, good size, really good arm. He's mobile. Only thing that concerns me is, uh, you couldn't play at Penn State. You couldn't play at Penn State and then you go to Kentucky because you couldn't beat out Shine Clifford at Penn State. That concerns me. Now, could it be politics that that happens a ton in college football? Joe Burro transferred so um and he's better than R. J. Barrett. Wasn't that the name of the quarterback? Yes? Yes? And Dwayne Haskins and those guys what it was? J T? Barrett? J T Barrett my bad story. So his throw emotion is different. Will levis the key to this, Like Jordan Palmer does a hell of a job training these guys and teaching them coverage and teaching them how to manipulate defenses. He doesn't. I've been around him so much. He does a really good job at that. If you take to that coach and you're gonna be dtrs out there. I think he looks good throwing the ball. Okay, how about do you have Anthony Richardson? No, okay, but I spent some time when Anthony richards I went to the combine. I was there the whole week. What did you make of it? Who stood out to you? Hey, let me ask you this. So give me a receiver that you thought was really good at the combine? Wow? Just one? Well, there's a bunt obviously there's an abundance of him. These are the guys that I thought were good players at the combined receivers I like Tankdale from Houston, Zay Flowers, Josh Downs, Jackson Smith and Jigba, Michael Wilson from Stanford, Meingo from Old Miss, Quentin Johnson from TCU. And it was yes, and it was a kid from South Carolina. I believe his last name was Brooks. For me, those are the guys that that stood out to me. That was about seven receivers and they all looked the part. Oh yeah, Flowers is a little small, but like explodes, Tank Delle, Zay Flowers, Josh Downs, They're all shorter receivers. What did you think of and Richardson at the combine? I thought Richardson U super athletic, really really good arm Can you fix can you fix the accuracy? They fixed Josh Allen. I mean Josh Allen was able to get it fixed. And so that was one thing that people said, Oh, I don't know, if you're inaccurate in college, you're gonna be an act. Josh Allen is kind of knowe he was inaccurate and he didn't start a ton of games, and that concerns me. But this is what I will say. We had a meeting at the combine. He was actually part of my group, and after that meeting, he just pulled me to the side and was like, man, I just want to kind of pick your brain. And I thought that was impressive. He didn't have to do that. Talk to him. Um, we exchanged text messages now hearing there, I root for him. I hope he does well. But again, he's gonna have to be a guy that sits similar to what Jordan Love has done, what Aaron Rodgers did behind Brett Farve. If he's to be successful, because it's hard when you start so few games in college. Well, let's go to the Jordan Love thing. Did you have him did? Okay? So he's tall enough, he moves very very well. It was funny in college. He had a very good year before his last year. Now that could have been he lost offensive lineman, he lost a coach. So he had a very good year of college. Then he came back and didn't play as well. Give me his strength, give me if I'm a Packer fan, Jordan loves strength. When you saw him and something that concerns you, his strength was his his size, his arm strength. But now when I when he came in, I believe it was that Philadelphia game. Um went six for nine thinking through for one hundred and eleven hundred and fourteen yards and a touchdown. I was really impressed. And Aaron Rodgers is a trailblazer man, like all these young kids want to be like him. His motion, the way was throwing the ball was just like Aaron Rodgers. That was different than what he was. And so that's time on the field. Uh oh work when when he was coming out, But I've seen him on the field last year, last offseason. Yeah, but it's it's different. So he now throws up, he's got the Aaron motion. Yes, And I think a lot of these young kids, everybody growing up now, all the high school kids, they're all mimicing Aaron Rodgers, all of them, every last one of them. And you know it's interesting with Aaron he kind of throws going backwards. It's you know he can do it because his arms so strong. Aaron mechanically is so unique. It reminds me years ago, like I grew up with a baseball player named Joe Morgan, and then there was John Kruk, and then like and then you see golfers who have whacky stances, or there are these guys that just go against mechanics. If you talk to the Jordan Palmers and the John Becks and Adam the Doe Taylor Kelly's of the world, they'll tell you what Aaron Rodgers, how he throws the ball is how it should have been taught. And now that's what they're teaching. Brady got his leverage from his hips. Where does Aaron get it from the hips? It's it's if you equated the baseball. When you get in the stretch, your lower body goes first, your upper body stays back. When you get your upper body ahead of your lower body, that's when the mechanics get out of whack. And so a lot of this, all these sports intertwined. It's just like playing baseball, get in the stretch. Let the lord half go first up or half come second. All right, So would you draft You're a GM, CJ Stroud, Bryce you on first peck, go wow, Man, They're gonna be mad at me one of them. I would probably uh, I'd go CJ wow size Yeah, and Bryce, Bryce is gonna be fin CJ needs to go where he's come. Bryce is just a different person mentally, like Bryce can go anywhere and he's gonna be successful because of its temperament um. He doesn't get too high too low, like just the way he carries himself. CJ needs to go somewhere where the coach believes in them. Yeah, you got guys that can make play. Because he's a little more fired than Bryce's a little more talkative than what Bryce is. But I would probably go. I'd probably go see J wow. I like that one thing I like about Bryce when I saw his high school stuff, and I've seen it in college. He sees the entire field. Well, a lot of young quarterbacks sees parts of it, like a lot of guys come out of college and they've only been coached to see the right side of the field. Two receivers I always feel like Bryce sees the field kind of. He moves around his head. He's smart, he's good. He processes so fast. Mahomes is like that, he's Jane Processor. He was taught at an early age to process and we were just it's funny. We were just talking about this on Friday, me and Bryce. He was like, there's one thing to understand what to do, but when you say, said, hut, can you process it fast enough? We just had this discussion on Friday that a lot of guys can tell you what to do and now break get down, but when you have to do it and that pass rush is coming, it's different. It's completely different. There was that big trade in at the top of the draft. So do you think they're going up for CJ. Stroud? We believe it might be Anthony Richardson because that's a big haul TJ to go up for a guy like c J. Stroud, who there's debate if he's even the best quarterback in the draft. I think they're going to get Bryce, I really do. I think the Panthers are gonna go draft Bryce Young. I don't think they'll give up that to draft Anthony Richardson. I'll throw this. I believe that Bryce Young would be the best quickly because I do believe he's a pro quarterback. Now. I don't know how long he'll last that body. But my takeaway with bryce's between me pro coaching he got with Bill O'Brien and the football power he came from, and his accuracy that he'll be able to walk in and start day one in the league and it looked comfortable. Is that? Do you think that's true? Yeah? Bryce shouldn't be able to start right away. That's what I think he should be able to. But who's he throwing into? Keep your eye. Carolina is having him pretty interesting offseason. I mean they just signed Adam Thaling. Okay, that's one. They're going after DJ Chark. He can run if he can stay healthy, he's a good player. So they trade it up to go for the smallest quarterback ever go in the top ten. I just don't believe Frank Wright being a ricky head coach or his first year head coach in Carolina. You not tying your job, Anthony Richardson. It's just too much. What if. I don't believe they'll do that? Okay, but you you and I agree, Bryce chunk can start Thursday after Labor Day and be functional and efficient. I believe that. I think he's much more polished, even justin fields, but he's more polished. He's ready to play in the NFL. Now. Bryce is good man. Like if you could just see him working out and how just how accurate, Like he's strolling receivers he's never thrown with and he's accurate. Yeah all the time. Very exciting. Yeah, this is gonna be everything. But and you get on, get you buckets. Remember when you told me about Zach Wilson. Za is extremely athletic. Um if you go to a team that isn't ready and this is what happens. They were when they were ready. He wasn't ready. Yeah, hopefully you can learn