Brock Purdy is closer to Tua Tagovailoa because the Niners lack depth in their roster
Thoughts on the NBA conference finals matchups and the fact that teams can no longer stack rosters
We're going to know very quickly if HC Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams work well together
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Here we go. It is a Tuesday. We are live. This is the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. Jmax, You know, I was thinking about this. We didn't have a game last night. We have a game tonight, Western Conference Finals. The well rested Timberwolves take on OKC OKC home court advantage. I don't think the rest matters a ton to OKC because they're the deepest roster in the NBA. I think they'll mitigate that. They'll be fine. And I'm gonna get to that in a couple of minutes about Adam Silver's new NBA. But we talked yesterday about Brock party signing new contract, and I was and I always said, Jay mac is that I think Brock Purty is TUA of the NFC a little smaller than I like, not as good in bad weather, mobile enough, but like they need a Shanahan or a Mike McDaniels. That's the secret. Sauce left with a defensive coach. Tua was overwhelmed. If you gave Brock Purty a defensive coach Matt EBERFLUSI I think he would be overwhelmed. But Tua and McDaniel have the right coach, the right system. And you know, one guy had Waddle and Tyreek Hill, one has Kittle, had debo, Christian mccafee, So it works to some level. Don't love either, but I like both. But when you start circumstantially paying too much for Tua, now he's got a week O line and he's just not good enough and gets exposed. That's what I think will eventually overtime. Happened to Brock Purtty. So I was talking to somebody yesterday about this. So the Niners sign Fred Warner yesterday to a huge contract. So the Niners are now paying three positions, positions you'd prefer to get value out of positions. The rival Rams don't pay anything to They're now paying Christian McCaffrey a running back second most for a running back in the league, George Kittle first most for a tight end, and Fred Warner first most for a linebacker. And they're doing this because they have to, because they've missed on so many picks. John Lynch, in my opinion, has not been a great drafter, and I think Shanahan has the power in the building. San Francisco also gave up three first round picks for Trey Lance. So now what you have to do is you get forced to sign positional players where you'd really like value. I mean right now, the Rams don't pay anything for linebackers. The Rams don't pay anything for corner, they don't pay anything for safety. They don't even pay a ton for a left And so I've said with Tua and Pretty, it's situational. I'd like him at thirty eight million, I'd like him at forty two. I don't like him in the fifties. And here's an example what I'm talking about. If you go look at the Niners. I took their last five drafts, in their last eighteen picks in twenty three and twenty two drafts, the Niners have one hit rock Pretty one. I'll give you a Jake Moody, but I don't think anybody loves a kicker in the third round, and he's been disappointing. And I'll all count Ricky Pearsall as a semi hit, but I thought he was overdrafted. They have back to back drafts in twenty two and twenty three, they didn't get anybody. The Dallas Cowboys, like the Niners, overpaid for a quarterback. Therefore, the offensive line is weaker than you'd like and the team is top heavy. One injury and all the dominoes come tumbling down. Look at the Cowboys. The Cowboys last two drafts. I like Demarvin over shown, but he's never healthy. Tyler Geiden, I'm not sure he's a hit. I'll give it to you, but I would argue in their last two drafts they don't have one absolute hit. Conversely, the Lions had a three draft stretch twenty one, twenty two, twenty three where they had twelve hits in three drafts. So the Jared Goff contract, and Jared's better in my opinion as a natural talent than party year TWA, it's not as punitive because they can let go of veterans they hit on draft picks. Similarly, the Philadelphia Eagles the Jalen Hurts contract. They can pay Sakwon Barkley because they never miss on their first or second round picks. I mean, they've gone four years where they've hit on all of them, and they got Jalen Hurts for free for years because he was a second round pick. So last season was an example of But I think the Niners are going to face over the next two to three years. Last year, Christian McCaffrey got hurt, Trent Williams got hurt. Oh, Brandon I you got hurt, Bosa got dinged, and they have no depth. So this is not me just simply not liking Rock Party. It's just like Tua if you don't or Dak if you don't get the right number one or two injuries and it all comes crumbling down. The best thing the Niners have going for him is a really smart head coach with a good system and the NFL's weakest schedule in ten years. Okay, so tonight is the start of the Western Conference Finals, and people say they want a lot of things, They say they want to work out, and they say they're going to put money away, and you know, They say they want parody in sports, and the NFL does a great job to make you think they've got parody. But Mahomes and Brady have made ten of the last fifteen Super Bowls from the AFC, and Philadelphia is favored again in the NFC. We'll see what Jaden Daniels can do to disrupt that. But the truth is what you're seeing in sports right now. The last seven NBA champions Raptors, Lakers, Bucks, Warriors, Nugget, Celtics. That's the last six. The seventh this year will make seven new champs in seven years. So for years you have been telling me this is exactly what you want. But the truth is, I'm watching TV ratings for sporting events and there's no parody outside the NBA, and the numbers are going up. And I have said this on occasion that I think parody is unrealistic. People are not even There are all sorts of gaps in ambition and intelligence and willfulness. I was just reading a Barry Diller book. Some people just stay at work until the job's done right. Some want to go home early. That's the real The OKCGM Sam Presty is better than yours. So is Brad Stevens of Boston or Tim Connery of Minnesota. They're not even. And historically in all employment, a's higher, a's b's higher, c's so weaker. Gms build weaker staffs. And I know you could say to yourself, well, Colin, life's about opportunities. Not really, it's not. It's wilfulness, it's ambition, it's intelligent. You can give two people the same opportunity, somebody's going to leap ahead. Well, calling the American capitalistic system, it must be better in Europe. No, not really. If you go to the English Premier League, last eight years Liverpool or man City has won their biggest league there NFL. Go to France, Oh, those liberal frenchmen, I bet you they don't have an ugly capitalistic system. Let's go to their sports. PSG's won ten of the last twelve league titles. Oh isn't that funny? Barcelona Real Madrid in Spain they've won ten of eleven. Yeah, it doesn't matter. Cross the pond here people aren't even ambitions, not even money's not even even in socialistic countries are sports men's and women's tennis. Scottie Scheffler's pulling away. It's the same five or six golfers for the men Olympics. We know host cities, especially the United States, do well Summer Olympics, Winter Olympics. It's the same basic countries. World Cup. Yeah, it bounces a little, but go look at the top six or seven teams right now. They've been the top six or seven teams most of the last fifteen years. It is the reality of where we're at. In fact, the only parody is the NBA. You get Minnesota, you Oklaoma City, you get Indiana. Only one real major market, New York, and their parody as well because they've stunk most of the last twenty five years. So this is, to me the NBA that Adam Silver wanted, and it's taken years to present it unravel. Some cbas wait for contracts to end. This is his NBA, and Adam Silver has talked about this before publicly.
I see my goal as helping the league. I called it from for shorthand to become more NFL like. And if you asked a casual NFL fan, are you going to watch the Super Bowl? They'd hardly ever say only if the Giants are in it. It's a national holiday. And I think a part of you know, my job is to take people who are fans of the game back to where we started. In addition to whoever their hometown fan is or wherever their personal interest is. Players and teams should think, I'm a fan of the game. This is the best basketball being played by definition, because this team has gone to the conference finals.
So is he an idealist or a realist? David Stern had no problem. David Stern loved the Bulls and New York and the Lakers. Because David Stern took over an NBA that had all this parody in the seventies and nobody was watching it. So David Stern's like, let's get in Nike, let's get in Adidas, let's get in Converse La New York. He didn't have a problem with it. He made the league more richer. Owners had an advantage, and big cities tend to, at least in the time, have more money and more game day nightly revenue and bigger local TV deals as well radio deals. So David Stern was a pragmatist. He was a realist, but he inherited a league where everybody was winning, different teams every year, Seattle, Portland, Golden State, Philadelphia, and it wasn't doing well. So Adam Silver inherits a league where it's like three to four teams at the top, five or six teams that are semi interesting and a massive bottom way too top heavy, and Adam Silver like, I don't like it. So now you can't stack rosters. It's roster construction. And what we're seeing is the four best players in these you know conference final teams are all guards. It is guards who elevate the players because you can't stack a players anymore. So we'll see how it goes. I'm looking forward to it, but it is a new NBA, more physical, more parody, can't stack rosters.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in newone Easter non a em Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
So I saw this story this morning. You know, Bill Belichick goes to Carolina when when Dion Sanders went to Colorado, the first thing that was inarguable is he sold the stadium ount and Colorado was a sputtering program. There wasn't any interest. Boulder's sort of a you know, it's sort of a wild, fun place to go to have a good time. Very infrequently have they had a lot of interest or a lot of success in football. And even with Dion, they weren't super successful, but they got on TV a lot. They were interesting. I thought he did a pretty good job to get him on television. They don't win a ton of games, even though they are in the Big Twelve, which is one of the weaker conferences. Not acc week, but kind of week. But Dion has made them relevant and in college football hit. The recruiting at Colorado now is relevant and that's what matters now. I do think Carolina historically is a better football program than Colorado, and there's more money in it, especially for football. But this is interesting. Carolina has sold out their season tickets before they have played a game under Bill Belichick. So it's the Dion effect. And I think what is fascinating about Belichick? So I think if you put Belichick in the SEC or the Big Ten, he'd get rolled. Because I've always had this theory is that the key to NFL coaching is just raw intelligence. Mostly smarter coaches win because you pick the players and you can practice much longer. College football is different. You need to be able to recruit, you got to have great energy. Intelligence to some degree can be muted. Now we know Nick Saban is really smart, but Nick was also relentless on a recruiting trail. Tons of energy, always a smile, great brand, and you know, again relentless when it came to getting players. He was pre nil the best recruiter I think I've ever seen so and so. I always thought John Gruden would be a great college coach. Smart enough, but great recruiter, great energy. Pete Carroll is not known as a schematic whiz, great college coach. Jim Harbaugh simple themes, repetitive in his themes, great energy, and recruit. Yet Bill Walsh at Stanford his last two years he was seven, fourteen and one combined, arguably the smartest coach in league history. Bill Walsh was smart players not that successful at Stanford. Jim Harbaugh much more successful. Harbaugh could recruit. Harbaugh had greater energy. Harbaugh had very simple themes. Belichick smart. I think the one thing that saves Belichick is the ACC is terrible. I looked at Joel Klatz preseason Top fifteen. There is one ACC team in it, and that is Clemson Now, Clemson has a I think the second or third best quarterback in college football, and they returned most of their really good players they didn't transfer. But they're not really an NIL story. I don't think they're a national championship contender, but I think they have a good coach, they have a first round quarterback and a lot of good players returned and didn't transfer. But there's no other ACC teams there. You got BYU and Arizona State in South Carolina and Illinois all above the next ACC team. So my take is Belichick's little grumpy Belichick is energy is meh. Belichick's a socio recruiter and his messaging, let's be honest, kind of complex. Now, I think he Charlie Weiss was another guy who was a really smart guy. He kind of bragged about his schematic advantage. He had a big brand, notre name energy. Recruiting very average, and so I do think what saves Bill is the ACC. If you look at their schedule outside of the Clemson game, they can match up with anybody. I mean, there's just w's everywhere in this thing. But like Dion Sanders, and this is why I've supported Bill Belichick and Jordan Hudson. Caroline's a basketball school. Colorado's a nothing school. Social currency, attention is your stock market. And I think North Carolina and Belichick. I've got him as my third story today. I don't have the Carolina tar Heels basketball program is my third story. So for some of these programs like Colorado and Carolina selling out the stadium, getting on television, raising nil money, Trump's getting to the playoffs. J Mack of the News, turn on the news.
This is the herd Line News.
We're gonna start with the Philadelphia Eagles and Nick Sirianni.
I was a bit surprised by this. So Eagles win.
The Super Bowl, not that, but the fact that they gave Nick Sirianni a multi year extension terms undisclosed, and it just feels like a bit of irrational, Like, Okay, they won the Super Bowl. Remember last year, Sirianni went into the season and battled because of all this stuff that happened on the.
Sidelines and some of the reports.
Obviously, Siriani has been very successful as a head coach in the regular season and in the postseason, for sure, are you surprised.
That he got this big of an extension?
I've never been able to figure out Philadelphia is run like a chaotic organization, but it all works. They fire coaches who win Super Bowls a couple of years after, they'll move off super Bowl winning quarterbacks. I mean, Chip Kelly out of winning record, gone, Doug Peterson super Bowl out of here. It is an organization run by its owner and its general manager, and there's not a lot of those left in the NFL. This is a general manager run franchise. Howie Roseman and he and Chip had a power struggle. He got demoted Chip rose Eventually Chip got the acts. So I just I've never I think Sirianni works well with Howie Roseman, and that's why he got the deal. I really.
I mean again, you could go down the list of the reasons the Eagles were successful last year. I don't think Sirianni's top three, maybe not top four. I mean it's like first push, Jalen Hurds, Saquon Barkley, obviously, that addition the defense in the Super Bowl, like the offensive lines. Like, I don't know that Sirianni's a great coach. Obviously he has a Super Bowl. He should be called the great coach. But do you when you think of great coaches in the NFL, is he like a top five guy that comes to mind?
No, he's not. He's unconventional. Sometimes on the sidelines, he's sort of sophomoric, like it doesn't work for me. Yeah, but I also think we have to be fair. There are people in all industries that grow into jobs. I think he's better today than he was three years ago. I still think sometimes he goes, you know, off the rails, but I think he's grown with the job. I mean, he's certainly much better at the podium than he was he was a tire flyer three years ago. So I think, you know, I think a lot of this stuff. We tend to look at the NFL and we want a superstar quarterback and a genius GM. A lot of this stuff though less Need and McVeigh are very collaborative. That's why it works. And I think Nick Sirianni chip Kelly had his vision and he didn't need Howie Roseman breathing down his neck, so it didn't work. Andy Reid and Brett Vieach work very well together. I think Ballard and am getting Yeah. Yeah, I think they like each other, respect each other, and work well together. I think. I think the collaborations the key. I think when you have Trent Bulky, we couldn't work with any coach. I think Harball works with the Chargers because they've given Jim his pick of the gym and his pick of the staff. So there's a rock star in every organization in this league. It's off in the quarterback. In Buffalo, it's not the coach. Sean mcdermot's not the rock star. It's Josh Allen. In Kansas City, it's Reading mahomes right. They share it, and I think in Philadelphia it's the general manager. Unfortunately in Dallas it's the owner and it doesn't work.
It's almost like Hurts and Sirianni. I've had a rocky relationship. Is it two horse, No, it's been published. There's multiple reports out of Philadelphia.
And like you have a new offensive coordinator every year.
So Sirianni does deserve credit for galvanizing the troops right, getting everybody on the same page. But I still think he's got work to do now. The terms not being disclosed is interesting. Obviously, we'll see if it's a two year deal or whatever it is. Next up, Colin Rock Purty just got paid, and you know I don't love this, But people complain, Jason, you're too hard on the guy.
Lamar Jackson, all of a sudden is looking for a new contract. Colin come on.
John Harbaugh admitted the team has engaged in internal discussions about a new deal for their quarterback, adding.
The front office would manage the salary cap dance. Lamar is now.
Doing the cryptic message thing on ig okay.
By the way, rock Perty did not do any of this nonsense. Here's what Lamar wrote.
Once I show love, they show me why they don't deserve it.
Right Then soon as I put my guard down, that's when they hurt me. Now they're saying this is about the contract. I don't know if this is some obscure musical lyric. I don't know what's going on here.
None of this makes sense to me, Lamar, is it to make fifty two million this season?
Yeah?
Please help me, help it make sense.
Well, we don't know that he's talking about contracts. Is that I don't know?
To be a girlfriend a friend?
Now?
Who knows?
No, I think he's reasonably paid. A lot of this is just I think, Well, I mean, I have no problem paying Lamar in the fifties. I mean he gives defensive coordinators fit.
Look at the list on the speak count.
This shocked me.
I did not realize fifty two million. Now, this is how you know renumber. Two years ago we called the wide receiver bubble.
I'm calling it now. This is not sustainable.
Where Lamar Jackson is your tenth highest paid quarterback, He's two MVPs right, and now he wants more.
I don't know what is interesting is now in hindsight for our radio audience, we have a list of the highest paid I think it's ten quarterbacks in the NFL. What's interesting as I think about five of these the teams regret it. I don't think. I mean, Dallas can say what they want, but that's too much. Trevor Lawrence, Tua, Jared Goff's deal right now. So about five of these teams, I think they're comfortable with it. And I think about I mean, Justin Herbert doesn't won a playoff game. They're comfortable with it. But I would say Jordan Loves an interesting one because I was comfortable initially. If at the end of last year Jordan Love had a hiccup if he has another hiccup, then they're going to fall into the Not really comfortable with where we're at with Jordan love So Now they didn't pay him for years. He sat on the bench for years. But it's interesting highest paid quarterbacks. I would say five of these I'm not comfortable with that, and that shows you and the five I'm comfortable with, Like Josh Allen, his team wins a lot and at Jared.
Wait time out, time out, time out Day Salla wins a lot.
So does Lamar Dexon.
Okay, yeah, I'm comfortable with that, with winning a lot and not getting to the super Bowl.
I'm comfortable winning winning your division every year and winning seventy five percent of the games and winning playoff games. I'm not asking you to win super Bowls when Brady and Mahomes are in their prime. If you win your division, if you get home playoff games, if you can win those games, I'm comfortable with. I don't need I don't need super bowls to bet Jalen Hurts is winning super Bowls? Do I think he's better than Josh Allen and Lamar?
No?
I don't.
Okay, So what do you do with Lamar here? Lamar comes to you, Hey, man, I need more money.
Rockberty just you You know I would restructure his deal, but I again, Kansas City restructures mahomes all the time. They're not letting Lamar go.
Of course that's silly, but Colin, just wrap your head around it. Fifty two million hasn't got to a Super bowls. They don't have the best Super Bowl odds next year, They're not favored.
To come out of the ASC. This is tough.
Man.
I don't want to.
Be in his pockets, but the reality is when it comes, when the lights are brightest in the postseason, has Lamar delivered? Yes?
Or no? No, he hasn't.
Story Colin is to the NBA tonight Game one? Are you fired up? Anthony Edwards and the t Wolves head to choke Oklahoma City.
I'm sorry, Oklahoma City to face the thunder in Game one. I will have you guess the spread shortly. No cheating, but we're gonna make this about Anthony Edwards, who has been unbelievable five years. In last week I had the hot take that he's been a better Timberwolf than Kevin Garnett. Of course people came down my throat. Well, look, at this colin our staff found out Anthony Edwards is just thirty five point shy of surpassing KG for the most playoff points in team history. These are their comparison through the first five seasons. I want to say game, set match and just slap the table and say thank you for your service. But that's not the kind of guy I am.
Anthony Edwards. He's gonna surpass KG either tonight or in game two.
Well, he has two advantages over KG. He's a better three point shooter and he has the ball in his hands. More so, I think Aunt will become the best player for the t Wolves. You know, I was thinking about this yesterday taking the train home. I was thinking about this about who does the NBA want. I do think if the NBA could choose, they take the Knicks and Aunt Edwards in the final ant. Playing in New York City will feel huge. That's like Jordan, give me Kobe was great in the Garden Lebron's steph. The gardens not only great for the Knicks, It's where the greatest stars in league history if you ask them. Even Jannis said two days ago, my favorite place to play is New York. It feels different. It is different.
Okay, so the Wolves have been off for a minute. The Thunder played Game seven on Sunday. I OKAYC is at home.
What do you think the line is?
Ok C minus one and a half?
Goll it okse minus seven.
Oh, I take Minnesota. I take Minnesota.
Yeah, seven seven.
I think if it was seven and a half initially and then it dipped down to seven, that.
Number is crazy to me. Well, playoff experience.
The Wolves have more conference finals experience than these guys.
Listen, I like Minnesota in the series. I'm on an island. I haven't seen one other person pick Minnesota.
No, there's there are people that I respect that was listening to a podcast yesterday, A lot of people Minnesota is a bigger, more experienced version. And if you get the same Julius Randall that they got against the Lakers and they got against Denver or against who did Minnesota just distinguished Golden State? I think I think it's a seven game series. I would go, okay, see to win Game seven at home, but I think it's a great series.
So the other point, Colin, I think, and this is just my read on it, the narrative is, oh, okay, see took down Mighty Denver and Yokic, while Minnesota got here by.
Beating the Curry list Warriors.
This is gonna be a rapt This is gonna be a blowout, and I'm just caut sitting people. That's not gonna be the case. This will go seven. I think Minnesota is the.
Better overall team.
Who's a better superstar here, Aunt or SCA.
I think I think Aunt's more vertical and more dynamic. I think ANT feels to me. I don't think the league needs it. I've told you this before. I think it helps. They don't need it. I think it helps with baseball. They don't need it. If the Yankees are winning, the Cubs are winning, the Dodgers are winning, baseball is fine. It helps that Judge and Otani are modern day Babe Ruth. I think Ant is what a face of the league is. Handsome, vertical, dynamic, explosive. I don't think the market size matters as much. I think with all the shoe companies now do the advertising for you, they make you bigger than your market. I'll tell you another guy. He's not face of the league, but I think one of the more relatable players in this league. The more likable guys is Jalen Brunson. Yeah, because the college program Villanova feels like it's totally relatable. He's in New York again. He is just such an when you listen to him, he's a grown up. He remind you know what, he reminds me of Jalen Hurts, another second round guy. He reminds me of Jalen Hurts. You're just getting an adult. He's a pro. He understands the value and the gravitas of being like an Eagle or a Nick. I think Jalen Brunt you don't think of him as face of the league, and maybe he's not. But if it was Ant's face of the league, take the Euros out Ant's face of the league. I think Jalen Brunson is a more memorable player than Jason Tatum. I think he's more crucial to his team's success. I think you take Brunson out of the Knicks, it's not the same franchise. I think you take Tatum out of the Celtics, there's still a playoff.
Maybe in these last question on this series, Minnesota as Oklahoma City, So he said the star Watteds goes to Minnesota who has the coaching advantage? And I know one of the guys comes on the show, but I think we would agree.
Well, I think I think Chris finchin US staff have arguably done a better job than any team in the playoffs. You know, the funny thing is is Tibbs has got nothing but crap for years, but the NBA leaned into Tibbs's coaching style and culture, and Tibbs has had a great playoffs. You know what's funny. We forget about this. They extinguished Boston. Remember how much trouble the Knicks had with the Pistons. Why the Pistons have one star but mostly grinders. Everybody touches it well coached, physical, You know, you just don't forget about how much all those Knicks Pistons games were close. All of those games were competitive.
J Mack with the news, Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by. The herd Line news.
USC football is listening to me. The stories are they may move out of the Notre Dame game and coming up next. It's really interesting. So it's I'm listening to radio today this whole Caleb Williams, Seth Wickersham Our interview this week. It it's getting a lot of play and I've said I think Ben Johnson and Caleb are going to work. But here is something that we can no longer argue. You're going to know very quickly if it works or if it doesn't. And I think you'll be surprised when you go back and look at how early young great quarterbacks give us a tell, let us know they're going to be great. We'll talk about that next.
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In just six days, it's the biggest day in motor sports, as the greatest spectacle in racing, the one hundred and ninth Indy five hundred comes to Fox for the first time ever, with Joseph Neugarten going for a historic repat Covers. Begins at ten am Eastern Sunday on Fox. We are so pumped for this race. We got an authentic Indy five hundred driver helmet and an Indy five hundred milk jug. Of course, the winner on Sunday Will continued the tradition I'm drinking milk in Victory.
Lane speaking to Indianapolis. You see that Caitlin Clark fever TV rating the biggest TV rating twenty five years for the WNBA. Nothing against Angel Revees, but they're going to get every single Caitlan Clark game on television and they should. Magic and Bird many thinks saved the NBA. I don't. I love the seventies NBA. I was a huge Doctor J fan. I love those Sonics teams, Elvin Hayes and the Bullets in West Son. So I really like seventies NBA. The Knicks in the early seventies. I don't remember the next teams. I didn't really start watching sports until like seventy two, seventy three, but the Knicks one in like seventy one, Lakers one I think in seventy two, and it was, you know, it was. It was like now a bunch of different teams. But and it's not that Caitlin Clark saved the WNBA, but there is no disputing it now matters. I mean the sport. Let's be honest. They were moving into smaller arenas subsidized by the NBA. You know, the very insular. There was a small niche group of WNBA fans. Magic and Bird made the NBA. They didn't save it. They made it relevant, and Michael made it global and Lebron made it mobile. Everybody can play anywhere. Caitlin Clark, it's closer to saving the WNBA. It was getting better, but it still wasn't making any money. And I mean that's incredible. Twenty five years a season opener. It saysn't a Christmas game, it's not a playoff game. It's just Caitlin Clark on a team that was awful last year. Highest rating twenty five years. So one of the things Caleb Williams, the Bears quarterback spending a lot of time in Chicago, likes you turn on the radio and they're talking Cubs are Kleb Williams Like that's the topic, And he's gotten some pushback. I think a lot of it is unfair. He's young. I thought during the season he handled himself, you know, like an adult at the podium. That matters to me. It was a grownup. But and I've also said that I'm not going to wait forever. You're going to tell pretty quickly how good he is. As long as you have a competent coach. I mean, you don't need a great one. Is Dan Quinn great, is Zach Taylor great? Well, he's competent. I think Ben Johnson bottom the floor is he's certainly competent. I took five quarterbacks that none of us would argue they were stars. Andrew Luck, Jaden Daniels, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, CJ. Stroud. I won't put a Herbert in. Many of you think he's overrated. I'm not going to put a two in because I don't think he's a star those five guys, and I'm not going to use Mahomes because he has Andy Reid arguably the best coach. Ever, how long did it take to figure out Andrew Luck was good? Well, he had the worst roster in the NFL, that's why they had the number one pick. And weeks seven through ten Andrew Locke had a four game winning streak and through four in that four game winning streak, twelve hundred yards and it was less of a passing league. Then how about Jaden Daniels of Washington In weeks two, three, and four, he went twenty three to twenty nine, twenty one and twenty three, twenty six and thirty. So by September we have ourselves a superstar quarterback Joe Burrow now with an atrocious offensive line, good receiver, atrocious O line. Week two sixty one throws three touchdowns over three hundred yards. Week three duplicated it three hundred plus yards, again with an atrocious O line and a coach nobody liked. Lamar Jackson. Six of his first seven starts he won, and he was clearly the most electric runner at the position since Michael Vick and then Stroud. I mean, come on, the dude said an NFL record. He didn't have an interception in his first five weeks, which is its NFL history. So my point being, I think you can argue that CAYLEB Williams roster, now that he has at least a confident coach, it's better than Andrew lux roster, better than jayde and Daniels. I'm not sure it's better than Lamar Jackson's, but it's better than c. J. Stroud's, and outside of Jamar Chase, it's better than Joe Burrows. So at worst he would have the second best roster because Baltimore's is oh was pretty good. And so I looked this morning, I thought, well, Caleb Williams has to be good in September, and if he's not, then the critics and I know scouts who don't love his accuracy, don't like his footwork, and feel he plays too much hero ball. I think he's got to go three in one of the first four games because the Raiders and the Cowboys are on that schedule and he's hosting Minnesota in perfect weather at Detroit. I'll give you an l but I think going into the bye in week five, I don't think it's unrealistic. I don't think it's hyperbolic. I don't think it's a hot take. If we don't see it through those first four games, he's probably not it. It'd be struggling. And you know, I think we've talked about this before that you can on music shows. You can tell this with music like remember Simon Collamerican Idol. You can see lousy and great Carrie Underwood, you know eight seconds in yeah that works, or if somebody butchers it, that doesn't. Good, pretty good may take time. Great awful you can see it instantly, so we will know, and pretty good then Caleb Williams will be disappointing. Will know very quickly. Because music and quarterback play, it doesn't take long. Didn't take long with Burrow Locke, Jayden, C. J. Stroud, it just didn't take long. It took like two weeks. So I said this a year ago and it got a little pushback. I said, college football is amazing, but it's all about the playoff. Just get into the playoff. That's what it's all about. It's not about tradition. And even USC fans like, what are you talking about when I said get the Notre Dame game off the schedule? What do you plan Notre Dame for? So the two football blue bloods have played ninety five times since nineteen twenty four, but USC, according to a story today, is very reluctant to extend it long term. And I agree with USC. So people are clinging to tradition. Let me tell you about tradition and college football. It's entered the portal, all right. This is a sport where you can now buy high school players. That was a death penalty four years ago. The highest rated game last year of the season was Georgia and Texas. It wasn't Texas and Oklahoma. So if you look at USC's schedule, and this is what I've argued, as they move into a conference now where they're at a little bit of a weather disadvantage. It's a warm weather program. Prime example is September seventh, September twenty seventh through November first at Illinois, Michigan, at Notre Dame at Nebraska. If Notre Dame was a home game, that's a much better schedule. And because their payout now in the Big Ten is minimum seventy five million dollars, which is over two and a half times the Pack twelve payment, they don't need the money now. It's different. Remember Notre Dame used to play Michigan years ago. They don't. The sport is fine. So Notre Dame, realizing there's a nutrition, has entered into a twelve year contract with Clemson. So I didn't grow up ever pining for Notre Dame in Clemson. USC is like, we don't need you and we're not interested playing cold weather games in November if you want to maintain this, and USC has all the leverage because of the Big Ten money, they don't need Notre Dame. Notre Dame needs big games, so that's why they signed the Clemson deal. They need big games. They lost Michigan, they can't lose USC so it's just I think it's very interesting is that the Big Ten allows USC to play a week out of conference schedule and still have Oregon Washington, which is generally ranked when they're in a bit of a rebuild. They'll be better this year. Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska. I think with Matt rule will be pretty good. Illinois this year will be good. So I mean, listen, when the reason USC was the first out of the PAC twelve, why number one, money, number two, stability. So right now, for USC, it's about the playoffs. It's not about Notre Dame. It's not about tradition, traditions, enter the portal. Texas, Georgia's gonna get your biggest rating, not Texas Oklahoma. So it's I think people are just grabbing on to something. When I was going up as a kid, I remember Nebraska, Oklahoma, Barry Switzer, Tom Osborne. They got replaced by Texas, Oklahoma. Okay, Michigan, Notre Dame used to be great. They don't play. I'm okay with it. It's fine. It's all about the playoff. It's all about December. So very interesting, USC wavering on the notre dame name,