The Herd with Colin CowherdNBA reporter Rachel Nichols joins the show in studio to talk about the Lakers since acquiring Luka Doncic and their chances to contend for another championship
Thoughts on DK Metcalf requesting a trade
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Here we go, hour two. It is a Wednesday.
Good night's sleep. Last night no earthquakes. I mean Luca Lebron had over. You know that thirty there's.
Your mini earthquake.
Yeah, so I was doubtful for today's show. I had an awful night sleep, woke up and I was telling the wife, like, I don't want to deal with the traffic this morning.
I was four adults deal with the traffic.
Well, if you get a late start from where I live, it's like an hour drock and.
That's that's that is lank privilege or something that round and privilege. This shows too much fun, toness, Come on, So I thought this, this was interesting. You know, I'm pretty consistent on this. I like aggressive. I just I just like aggressive, even if I don't agree with everything, Like live golf, I appreciate the effort. And if you're sitting around for years and years not treating the best golfers in the world better, they're going to go to another They're going to know to another tour deal with it, treat them better. So the Eagles gave Saquon Barkley a fat contract forty one million, thirty six million of it guaranteed at signing. And so this is why the Eagles are elite. They write a huge check with most of the money up front, meaning they can escape by year two. I don't think they'll want to, but running back Saquon's been hurt, they can get out of it. This is what Arizona, Chicago, Cincinnati, that is the space those days, those guys don't operate in.
They did.
This was Carson, Carson Wentz. Philly takes big swings and they write big checks up front and so they can get out of stuff. And the Saquon deal is a massive check. And until the Raiders recently got a couple of new investors, they couldn't write these checks. Chicago doesn't write them, Cincinnati doesn't write them, Arizona doesn't write them. I mean all legendary poker players, every phil hellme youth down is they are selectively aggressive. They do not always have the best hand. You gotta be aggressive. And I think the heart and soul, remember Howie Roseman. This is a team that want to got to a Super Bowl and they you know, they tend to they win a Super Bowl, and everybody wants to bring everybody back.
And I'm not a fan of that.
I think you got to keep moving the roster in professional football to keep everybody fresh. I think they're going to move off like seven or eight guys. You cannot move off Saquon Barkley. There are three or four players on the Eagles. You can't duplicate that. You can't duplicate Jalen Carter on a rookie contract. You cannot replace Saquon Barkley. Even Derrick Henry's not this So the soul of the Eagles to me is gm O line, quarterback, Saquon Barkley, and Jalen Carter. And there was this ridiculous narrative that was happening for about a year ago.
Running backs They're going extinct. No, they're not.
The most important football games in this league are played in December, January, and February. It gets cold and windy, and nobody is more valuable to a quarterback than a great running back. And what I love about Saquon Barkley, among other things, class quiet, head down. I mean, this guy played battle lines at Penn State, battle lines with the Giants, never complained a single time. He does it the right way. So I could not be happier for Saquon Barkley. And I know a lot of people out there running backs a dime a dozen.
No they're not, No, they are not.
The O line as a collective is really the centerpiece of the team. But when Saquon didn't have a great old line, he was still remarkable.
And all the smart people knew it.
So you know, I and I had said this, People get worked up.
Certain positions.
Don't get paid if you're a great tight end, if you're a great guard. Joe Tooney, he got paid. Guards don't make any money. Joe Tooney got paid. You'll get paid. Safeties don't get paid. Ed Reid got paid. You know, Ronnie Lotte got paid. You'll get paid if you're great. Now, there's other positions where you don't have to be great. You can be brought pretty and good and get paid.
But That's just the way the game works. There's some positions.
If you're a good left tackle, the Rams have a good left tackle, you get you get a lot of money running back.
You gotta be great.
Sa Kwan Barkley is And with that, our friend Rachel Nichols, Fox Sports NBA analyst.
Is joining us on the show.
You know, I never try to be a homer, but you know, as a Warrior and Laker.
Guy, it is good living right now.
Good time to be in California and be a basketball fan.
Raise it is.
So I want.
I want to talk about Jimmy Butler. So before they made the move, I watched a lot of Warrior games and I had said, man, when Steph Curry's not on the floor, this team is boring. Yeah, and they're charging a lot for tickets. The standards very high. Uh, and like you you you.
Got to keep moving, like the San Francisco Giants didn't. They're kind of irrelevant. Like you got to make a move.
So I think there were people in the league that thought, you know, Jimmy's noisy. Uh. You know, Jimmy's passed his prime. And I kept saying, just get his energy.
In the building.
I wonder if the Warriors privately are a little surprised how perfectly he's fit.
I mean, I think they're thrilled.
We know that they were going after Kevin Durant that week, so he wasn't even their first choice, but he's turned out to be a better fit. Jimmy Butler says, one of the things about me is I fit in everywhere, and I think that is true, and he's been able to fit in there so well seamlessly basketball wise, but as you point out, it's also energy and culture wise. He might not be the stereotypical runs on joy Golden State Warrior, but he is that sort of character, energy guy that this team has been known for. You know, Draymond Green put it this way, Colin. He said we needed another a hole, although strama so he did not use the word a hole. You can just fill in what he actually said. Steve Kerr talked about that to last night, that he just has given Steph Curry more energy because Steph knows when he goes to the bench, someone else is going to be out there.
He doesn't have to do everything by himself.
And I think we've seen the effect of all of that, and they are a real force now in the West, which wasn't true at the turn of the year.
Yeah, it's you know, it's I said this earlier.
Los Angeles sort of forces you as a franchise to be aggressive. The Lakers have been aggressive with Westbrook didn't work. Aggressive with a d and Luca works. The Dodgers win a World Series and spend four hundred and fifty million more dollars on players. The Clippers feel stale and a little tired because it's like, Okay, there's stagnant. Stagnant status quo doesn't work in La. If you're good in Cincinnati with Joe Burrow, that's good enough.
It's not here.
And so I look at the Lakers and Luca. I think it's a honeymoon period. But I'm watching them the last couple of games without a Ruey and a Reeves. I mean con now, I don't think it's crazy.
I did this yesterday.
I did my NBA Championship bubble, and I don't I always worry about being like recency bias or confirmation bias. I think the Lakers, I don't know if they can beat Boston. I think they can win the West. I here's my bubble radio audience. I put Denver Lakers Warriors. Ok see Cleveland Boston. I think of the two best teams. Nick's on the outside. Any problem having the Lakers in it? Oh?
I remember problem having the Lakers in it.
I feel as much as this pays me because I'm a huge nikolay Okic fan of just what he can do on the court. I'm not sure the Nuggets are actually in the bubble, but I like your optimism.
There you go.
I do think you're completely right with your other teams there, and it's just going to be interesting. I mean Steph Curry playing the way that he is to your point, yeah, I would never have imagined Golden State in that bubble just a couple months ago.
I mean they were barely scraping a play and.
Spot Cominga's not playing right and the one thing they miss is length exactly, and so Minga's got a bad ankle. I think he's back in the next week. So, folks, this team is.
The Lakers are getting Reeves and Rui back right, and the Warriors are getting Minga back.
M hmm.
Absolutely. I do want to make one one Steph Curry point just then, and then we can detail into the Lakers. You know, I think the control room has the Steph Curry shot from before we've been talking about a week right, that's shot before the Orlando halftime and against the Orlando Magic. That is a shot that most players in the NBA run from right. It's the end of the half. It messes with your shooting percentage. There's a thing in the NBA about hey, pass it to the rookie right before the buzzer half times, so his shooting percentage can get messed up.
Steph always goes for that shot. He always wants that shot. And you have a player like that.
Who always wants to take that shot because he could make it and that turned into a fifty six point performance for him. Those are the guys I want in your playoff bubble, in your finals contention bubble.
Teams that have that.
They have that in Steph Curry, which is why you never count the Warriors out as long as stuff's on the court. The Lakers have that in Luca and Lebron. Those guys are not scared. And when it comes to the playoffs, you said you may have recency bias. Recency bias is part of the NBA it's how you are playing toward the end of the regular season and then going into the playoffs.
That are the teams that should be in your bubble.
Your recency bias is correct because the Lakers have those kinds of guys. They are They have the best record in the NBA since the middle of January, top five on both sides of the ball. In fact, they have the best defense in the entirely crazy since the beginning it lose ad.
They acquire Luca, who's always been a bit of a defensive liability, and they're as good a defensive team and looka.
Can play defense when he needs to, and there you go.
So the JJ Reddick higher is interesting because there was a lot of pushback on he didn't have a lot of experience, which I always think that's a bit overrated. We had no experience, Yeah, I mean Lebron's pod partner. But it's hard for me. I can judge a football coach very quick. Sure, basketball is so fluid and so star driven. I have to watch multiple games to get a feel. Are you a good coach or not? Yeah, because a lot of times, even as Steve Kerr or Ospolstro will just let the start dictate the offense. You're not calling plays a lot like you do in college basketball. But the one thing I see with the Lakers, especially in the first quarter, I can see what they're to do. I always they have a game plan, and with Darvin Ham, a lot of times it was I felt like they were kind of just.
Letting the game come to them.
I feel like, JJ Reddick, this is what we're doing for the first six minutes. And I don't know, I just is he I think he's been sensational.
I really First of all, I really like JJ personally, and I think he's been popular in the locker room because of that personality. He's super intense, obviously very meticulous, but players like that. They want a guy who cares as much or more than they do. And one of JJ's core beliefs is there's a lot outside of the game that you can control, and since there's so much inside the game that you can't once you get on the court, control everything.
Outside the game make it all better. So to your point about.
Being organized, having your rotations down, having the guys know where they're supposed to be, when all of that really matters, so that when the stuff happens that you can't control, you already have the leg up of the stuff that you can and we see that over and over on the court. You also see, frankly, with the way that he is playing Luca at the beginning of games. Luca has so much of the load in the first quarter that Lebron James at forty years old, is able to be great offensively but also defensively at the end of games. And that has been a problem for them the last couple of years. When Lebron runs out of gas, which he has towards you know, in playoff games, for the end of games, the Lakers don't have anything else. Not only now do they have something else in Luca, but Lebron's not running out of gas. And it's the first time, Colin, in Lebron's entire career, that you and I have ever seen anyone multiply Lebron.
Lebron is usually the multiplier.
He's the guy who makes other guys around him better than they are right. He makes things easier, he makes things better, he draws more attention.
Luca is making Lebron better at age forty.
I've ever seen that with Lebron. No one's ever multiplied Lebron or made Lebron better and Luca doctor just doing that, that's incredible for the Lakers.
You know, when you make trades in pro sports, and this is really kind of systemic in business as well, is that there are always unintended benefits or consequences that you make a big merger and you're like, oh, we didn't know this would be good too, or the opposite. And so I think when you make the Jimmy Butler move for the Warriors, you knew you'd be better defensively, and you knew he'd get you to the line, but you didn't know that Steph would be playing with a vigor and energy that was like, oh, multiplied. So it's like you can't guess everything. So here's where the Mavericks not only was the trade bad, but the problem the reaction, the problem giving up Luca coupled with the injuries they had with their bigs before Luca was traded, is that then Kyrie is your only play initiator now, Spencer Dinwei, he's a good player. Now Kyrie's got to play more minutes and have the ball incessantly. And my take and maybe it's a reach as part of the injury is you didn't consider Oh god, we've only got two initiators, we trade one. Kyrie's a smaller athlete with injuries.
I don't think that's controversial at all. We have heard people say, oh, come on, ACL, isn't an overuse injury. Stop talking about his minutes. I'm sorry, I completely disagree. No, it's not an overuse injury.
I know that. But when your body is tired, we all know this.
When your body is tired, you are more vulnerable to every rate.
Rachel, what's the worst run scheme? The last run of the day, Like the old setting.
Is, you're most likely to get injured in the front of the day. Your body is tired. Everything is less precise in your movements. Every part of your body is sort of compensating for different things.
And different muscles. And I don't care if something is quote an overuse injury or not.
If your body is worn down, you are more susceptible to getting hurt. And then, of course is bad luck the way Kyrie got hurt. But you can create conditions that make bad luck more or less likely to happen.
And a team in the Dallas Mavericks that partly.
Their justification for the trade with Luca's habits and conditioning was creating poor conditions for his possible future health. If that is part of the reason that you decided, Hey, bad luck happens, but we can create conditions to make it more or less likely. Don't trade for a guy in Anthony Davis who has an injury history and is older, and don't put so much of a load on Kyrie Irving who has an injury history and is older. You are creating conditions for bad luck to happen, whether it's overuse or fluke or not. And the Dallas Mavericks have walked right into it. And again I don't understand it because Jason Kidd is so smart and Nicol Harrison is really smart, and I don't know what's happening there.
Well, you know, I had a discussion with somebody the other day on this in the NBA circle, and I think when the players that CBA where the players like Lebron and Chris Paul had a big stay in the CBA, where it paid the stars like seven felt like they got all the money.
Yes see, players all the money.
So it was great for Lebron, it was great for Chris Paul Steph Curry. It's great for Yannis, but now the max is seventy million to seventy five, so Luca qualifies for that. I think it's one thing for a billionaire to write a forty million dollar annual check.
When you almost.
Double it, they're going to consider everything, including conditioning, Sure, injury history. I mean, I mean, like Paul George, good player, Clippers are like, we can't.
Go there, but don't you have to consider it in both directions If you're the Mavericks, Sure, if you're considering it on the way out for Luca, aren't you supposed to be considering it on the way in with the guys that.
You got coming in?
Yeah?
I just I don't think that this was foreseeable in the way of like, man, we're going to be sitting here three weeks a month after the trade, and you know their top two stars are going to be gone. But it wasn't unimaginable. And that's the difference. It's not like you couldn't have been like, ah, that's impossible. You had two older stars on the other side of thirty who have an injury history, and it's not a complete Oh my god, I can never have imagined this, this happened. And the question now is do you even bring AD back this season? I'm not sure I would right.
Now that Kyrie's out. I probably wouldn't.
I don't know, maybe you know.
And then you have a contingent of Dallas fans online, and you know they're still feeling emotional, they're in their feelings, but they'd like to trade AD this summer. Because the point is, the thinking goes, this is not my theory. I am saying no, no, but there is a fan push out there to say, hey, Anthony Davis is never going to be more valuable than he is this summer.
He's not going to be more valuable the next summer.
The next summer, Kyrie isn't going to be there for at least half the season next season. So really, what is the Ad Kyrie window that you're talking about?
And do you have to just start again now?
I think that Anthony Davis should stick around to Dallas and see what you can do with him next season. But I understand the frustration of people feeling like this is already a loss. Are you already going to tell me a future? When Niko Harrison said I've got three or four year window. Tell me the future. How would it lay out that they could win a championship in the next three years. It's a tough it's a tough look.
So I think.
I don't think the NBA has had nearly as many faces of the league as people would submit to you.
I think it's been Magic.
I don't even think Bird was Bird was French lick, he was ornery, he didn't want to do ads. I think Magic sort of pulled him along. Magic was the face, Michael was the best face, Lebron's the face, Curry's close. Some have argued that Kobe and Shack together collectively for about five years with a face.
I'm not going to I don't argue.
I've argued that Jason Tatum has a lot of things, but kind of lacks a aura or or a clutch time resonance with people. But the editor thing that's thrown out there, and it's fascinating because I don't know what's right. People say, could an international player be face of the league now. Something that was brought up to me that I think is important is that we knew Michael, Magic and Lebron's story when they were like eighteen, nineteen twenty. Yeah, international guys, we don't now. I do think is international basketball elevates it is probably. I mean we knew Wemby a year before he came to say so, I don't have an answer. Could an international player be the face of a sport in America?
I mean, look, we've seen it in baseball, right is right here in Los Angeles. I do think the most likely candidates are a Victor Webinama, who I think is going to be the health obviously health being a factor, and we saw something just last month, but in the last month, but health sustain then I think that he is going to be maybe the top player in the next ten years.
Is he the face of the league.
Is that instead going to be Luca because he's here in Los Angeles another foreigm burn player, or is it going to be in Anthony Edwards? And Jason Tatum was complaining, you know, Anthony Edwards hasn't done the things that Jason Tatum has done, not by a mile. By the way, Jason Dunns significantly more than Anthony has done. However, there is a swashbuckler sort of sense to Anthony Edwards. To Michael Jordan, right to Lebron in his way that Jason Tatum just doesn't have our guy. Paul Pierce also brought up the fact that Jason Tatum plays in Boston and a lot of people around the country do not like Boston sports teams. And to your Larry Bird point, it was Magic, not Larry who was so popular Boston guy.
Yeah, let's end it with this.
I think it's fascinating. I really, you know.
I had theorized that when James Dolan spent two years on the sphere in Vegas, he got out of the basketball ops. Yep, and the Knicks put together an excellent front office and it made great move after great move. I love what the Knicks have done. There is an advantage to losing. It creates clarity in the building. Yep. They can't beat the Celtics. They can't beat Oka. See, they can't beat Cleveland. They probably couldn't beat Luca in a series if they played Lebron. They couldn't beat last night though missing Kaminga. They were missing Kat. But they're not an elite team. They're a good team on certain nights, very good, but they're not great. I think that's great. I think where NBA franchises die is when everybody in the building is arguing, right.
I think there were a lot of Darvin.
Ham believers in the building until the very end of the season, and then they all said it's not working right.
Nicks needing to make another big move, right, but.
They're zero to seven against the top teams in the league. That is not the number that you want. It's interesting. A week or so ago we heard a report from Schams over on ESPN saying Jannis wants to stay in Milwaukee, but not if they don't keep winning. Those reports, by the way, don't happen by accident. Those are little, as you and I both know over the years, little warning shots to franchises. Oh gee, we happen to be having the conversation, and there's no secret that the New York Knicks would like to get their hands on Yanni Santa Kupo and we'll just have to keep watching. People in Milwaukee love Jannis. They don't like it when people talk about him leaving their team.
I get it. I don't want him to leave the Bucks either.
I don't want to blow the Knicks up, though.
Well.
OG four draft picks Karl Anthony Towns.
I don't want. I want. You're not moving Brunson.
I would move a lot in that France to get Yanni Senta Tokupo. I mean, really save Jalen Brunson. I think they're all integral parts of the Knicks and how we know them. And they're scrappy and they work hard. And guess what if you had Giannis, you go further. And I think in the end it's about winning.
And I let's be fair about this.
Luca to the Lakers and JB to the Warriors.
You got to have two a's. That's just the way it is.
Change the franchise right right.
You can go like that Bronson's and a minus and a lot of guys that are bees.
That's just not good enough.
Nope, because I've watched them play Boston twice. Boston comes out eight minutes in, they attack Karl Anthony Towns, it's over.
But again, I would like to see Yanis win in Milwaukee again. I thought that was so fun when they won that title and the city, the way they embrace them. Your original point when we sat down here, of hey, it's a competitive market in La in San Francisco, it's not as competitive a market in Milwaukee.
That town loves the Bucks. That is what that town is about.
And if he can bring them another title, that would be incredible. But if he wants to leave New York, is a logical place for him to go.
Love having you on the show. It was always Rachel Nichols.
Thanks yet one more. Heard. 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.
Man, good stuff we got. Are you putting that in updates? Is that one of your stories?
J Mack?
Or should I mention it right here.
With your vacation that's coming up?
No?
No, no, no, the story that's breaking.
Yeah, we're talking about it.
You're talking about it, okay, all right, don't want to don't want to steal your thunder steal away. I'm lucky to have you here today. The guy had an ice cream headache, couldn't show up to the show.
I mean god, uh? J Mack with the news, No, no, heard on the news.
This is the Herd Line news.
We're not starting with the breaking NFL news, but we'll start with the NBA because I don't know if you saw this video last night, check it out.
Kevin Durant and Boodenholzer get into it.
KD basically says, I don't I guess GTFO, you know, basically just telling the coach get off me walking away from them.
It was bad in Phoenix last night.
And then Durant goes off in the fourth quarter for nineteen points, the game winning assists Sons come back from twenty three down to get the dub.
Here's KD afterward.
Yeah, that's what usually happens when you don't know the dynamics of a relationship. You know, you catch something on TV, you get a quote, and now you're pushing that narrative as if me and Bud don't do that all the time. We competitive as two individuals who want to see things done the right way, and sometimes my way ain't the way that Bud want to do it, and vice versa. And he allows me, as a player on the team, a veteran on the team, or voice my opinion if I if we both didn't care, we would never have stuff like that.
Okay, let me defend Kevin Durant.
Oh, okay, here we go.
Why is it okay for football? Coaches and players to argue, and we all it's all cool. Why can't Kevin Durant voice his opinion with a basketball coach?
Well, what's wrong with this?
Wait a minute.
Arguing is different from get off me, don't touch me, which is KD did iatack Mahomes? Andy Reid had that kind of get off me and count Travis Kelsey almost he's on a quarterbacks he's a tight end.
Who cares Kevin Durant a legend in the league?
Time out? Show me the video again.
He turns around and disagrees with him in the middle of a game, all the emotion of the middle of a gain and then Buddenholzer puts his armor.
Reund Listen, why won't watch this? Get off me?
Imagine if you grabbed me after a segment where like Jay mac.
Comre, let's get the hell off due. I've done that about four times. Let me tell you something, Kevin Durant. I've defended Peyton Manning on this, I've defended Brady. I'm gonna defend Kevin Durant. When you're in the middle of an NBA game or a pro game, your emotions.
Are through the root.
Got you guy?
Okay?
Okay, you get you can get snarky, you can get upset.
This is okay.
We always kill NBA guys when they bark at a coach.
NFL guys are barking.
An hr constant line. I'll give you that.
However, this video on the heels of the Devin Booker Budenholzer thing last week where Budenholzer said, hey man, I need you to be less vocal. We now have Budenholzer talking to Booker.
Booker was shocked.
By it, according to reports, and now he's grabbing KD and KD said, get off me. I'm just saying, Frank Vogel coaches team last year, they ran him out. The Stars ran him out in one year. And now Budenholzer one week, Beef and Booker and now this with with KD.
And you can defend Kendell.
I'm not saying that the Suns are going in the right up you well, they're not going in the right direction. It's I think it's everybody in the league knows it. It's reboot time. But I think we do this with basketball players. It's like, you know, Lebron have some moments with the Israeli coach David black okay, and he had moments with Eric Holstrass Well. Lebron James has played forty five minutes both ends and in the middle.
You get like, when I'm in the middle of a show, I'm barked at a producer.
I don't do that.
Before shows, you'll bark sometimes when you're in the middle of action. It's okay, It's like it's part of its live.
Lebron teams they were always in the finals, Kevin.
Durance, they're not in the play in Colin.
I am.
I think we sound disconnected when we're in the media and we bang on athletes because in the middle of these games, I mean, just think about.
This isn't necessarily just about Katie. This is the relationship, the dynamic of the team. It's all bubbling up into a disaster. I've seen Steve Kerr and Draymon have issues.
It's the league, it's the association.
You have fights at practice, NBD, no big deal, much ado about nothing. If Portland passes Phoenix in the West in that playing racement, we're doing that for We're doing that in the herd life that ever happens. Okay, next up, let's go to the NFL the Buffalo Bills were not able to get past the Chiefs obviously and get to the Super Bowl, but all have to tackle.
Dion Dawkins, who comes on the show regularly, thinks things who could have been.
Different if Buffalo had met Philly in the Super Bowl faced off.
He thinks Buffalo would have had a better chance.
Here he is, we would have put on a better show and should. I am a part of my team, so I think my team is going to put on the best show, regardless of anybody performing.
We are the ones. We're raw.
Quarterback is raw, our line is raw, d line is wrang. We are the raws. We put on the best show and we performed at a high level. Not to say that we would just like like went Aaron to beat the Eagles, because it would have been a we would have a chance, and we would had a better chance.
You know.
Here's why he's right. One of the strengths of the Bills is left tackle. That was the undoing of the Chiefs. They couldn't block them. And I think last year, especially at the tackle positions, I think Buffalo is better than Kansas City, and that it just you cannot face the Eagles front and if you're struggling to block the edge, you're in trouble because everybody struggles to block Jalen Carter. If you're struggling to block the edge and Jalen Carter, game over. So I think Buffalo I don't know if they'd have won. I don't think they would have won, but I think they would have matched up.
We do know this to be true.
There are matchups in the NFL that I think Houston matches up. I think the Raiders last year matched up very well with Kansas City. They just they're just they had a trouble blocking Max Crosby, and the Raiders had some success maybe moving the change that they wouldn't against other teams. Like, I think matchups matter more than we think in the NFL, and Buffalo matched that with Philadelphia much. I think we said that before the Super Bowl is that it was a rough You.
Know, it was not great. Let me just ask you, so.
AFC usually dominated the top five of the herd hierarchy l season, right Ravens were in their bills were in their t Was the AFC a little overrated last year? Removed the Obviously the quarterback play was great, but Ravens kind of looked flustered in off lost in Buffalo did have a great turnovers.
I had a general manager tell me that. He said, you like Buffalo's roster more than general managers do. That Buffalo's roster is much thinner. Because I was telling him how much I left the Buffalo roster. He said, it's much thinner than you think. They've got like four great players.
So it was the Josh Allen Show in Buffalo.
Jamis Cook is good. They're on the line, but one of their linebackers is excellent. Tight end Kincaid's good, but they have four really good players.
And then you know some guys.
And seeing the Chiefs trade Tony today after that Super Bowl and after these comments, I wonder what Kansas City has up at sleeve.
Are they cooking up something?
Well, I think we're gonna probably do that later in the week. Is something's going on in Kansas City. Final story is the breaking news that you alluded to, and that is dk Metcalf has requested a trade out of Seattle. Seattle is saying all the right things. They want to keep him, but he wants to go to a contender.
Colin.
This is obviously not great news.
On the heels of Lockett getting released today, Seattle could be essentially looking at a big time rebuild. We don't know what their quarterback situation is going to be after Gino Smith. I think DK Metcalf and the Chargers makes a hell of a lot.
DK Metcalf and the Chargers does make sense. I think it's time. I like DK Metcalf a lot, but we've talked about this debo in San Francisco.
It was time Stefan Diggs in Buffalo.
This is the most outspoken position in the league for a bunch of reasons, and I'm not sure I know all of them, but I think it's time Tyler Lockett. They've moved off of DK Metcalf, they have a young receiver from Ohio State. They they like their young backs, they like their tight end fans. I think it's just time.
Listen, We've got a lot of Raider fans on staff and they're floating to me.
Hey, Pete Carroll reuniting with DK in Vegas.
Yeah, but DK said he wants to go to a contender, And if you look at the quarterback, I mean, why would DK want to get traded?
No? I think I I think he adds such a physical dimension. Yeah, I think the Chargers makes a lot of sense because remember the Chargers.
They wanted t Higgins every I mean that's obvious seas you know listen.
And in the NFL the trend is pay offense, draft defense. So he's going to have a market and he's such, he's just physically a different kind of athlete. Like Green Bay's got a bunch of number two receivers, I think they'd look at him.
Dude, if you you've got d k and Lad McConkey as your two, that's pretty damn good for Justin Rby and then.
Palmer's your third. They're gonna draft to tie down like.
But see, it seems like the they're they're almost there for the reboot in Seattle, Like, hey, we we had a good run with this group, let's start over.
I don't think they're going to be great next year?
Are they?
Are?
They last places?
Would you give up? Would you what would you give up for DJ Metcalf? Probably in a week draft? Would you give up a one?
So Deebo Samuel was expensive and got a fifth round pick.
He's a little older.
I would give up a three for DK, all right, But what are you think?
Probably a two, but a three because you have to pay him. Probably a three, probably.
Be a conditional second if he hit that's try you know, ninety catches three.
In a conditional second or something like that. Yeah, that's a good call, he said.
Listen, he's still a top like twelve this recid.
Listen, No, no, no, he's sees DK's a he's a one.
Yeah.
J Mickle the news.
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the herd Line News.
For the record, the staff brought up a very interesting point.
I was defending KD arguing with Budenholzer, and I think we in the media, like one of the things that's always driven me crazy if you watch the Olympics and somebody trains for four to eight years to get to the Olympics and then they run the eight hundred meters and they finished fourth and don't get a medal, and an NBC reporter goes up, how's it feel.
It's like, could you give him thirty seconds here? He's trained eight years for it.
Uh.
You know, I think we we sound a little disconnected in the media when we don't understand that these games are we want all of our star athletes to be mj and to be killers, and to be intense and to be relentless, and in the middle of a game, when the coach comes to the and barks a little bit, it's okay, I'm gonna give the players a little bit of a pass. I'm I'm you know, I'm old guy sitting here talking about it. When you go to an NBA game, there is a lot of trash talking.
I mean there is.
I mean, Lebron's not a trash talker, but Lebron's even like throwing stuff at you. Looks and I'm gonna defend KD. And you have a relationship with him. I do not, But I'll say this the staff during herd line, somebody wrote this on the screen. Isn't it a healthier relationship? If you do argue with your wife from time to time, that's an authentic relationship. Sometimes I have to tell Ann listen, I'm right again. You're gonna have to take one for the team here. I know it gets very frustrating, but that's an authentic relationship. Steve Kerr and Draymond. Draymond and Steve Kerr, I mean, Kerr loves Draymond and they bark.
At each other.
No communication is inauthentic. Never showing your anger is totally inauthentic. Some I guarantee you Jj and Lebron I'll have a moment and he'll bark, and that's that is absolutely okay.
I mean, when the.
Stakes are high, Peyton Manning screaming at Jeff Saturday. And the reason he is screaming at Jeff Saturday, remember that old clip, is because he respected Jeff Saturday and he expected more from Jeffy.
So Jeff Saturday barked back to.
It, and that made me respect Jeff Saturday more because most offensive linemen aren't barking at Peyton Mane, but Jeff Saturday, new bro, you got your hands on my rump, you know, forty five times every Sunday to eighty five times. And I'm blocking with the best centers in the league. I get an opinion too, And so I'm gonna give Katie a pass. I'm gonna give football players three and a half hour window of pro sports. You can yell a teammate, Remember Josh McDaniel's brady prettiest just dropping bombs on him.
That's healthy.
In fact, I may call Ann after the show and just you know, start arguing, just for the relationship.
Live in l answer.
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I got cigars in the mail the other day from that I didn't know what it was, and now I do. They had that logo on the cigar.
Can you let him know I didn't get my ship thet Well, well.
You almost didn't come to work today because you didn't get your binky at two in the morning or something. So there's a there's a story that DK Metcalf wants out of Seattle. I think it's time. I think he's been a great player. But we've said this this position for a variety of reasons, and I you know, I've always kind of theorized that wide receivers are the NBA players of football. They break the huddle first, they're kind of on their own. They're the most athletic guy on the team, and they more noise debo AJ DK. They just it's okay, it is what it is. Dez, go back to Andre Rison. It's okay, Randy Moss, they're great all time athletes and OBJ they want theirs. Okay, I'm fine with it, But I do think once the noise starts, it's time to move on. So I think DK metcalf john Sneyders making the right move here. I think you can get a two for I think Seattle. If you get a two for him, you know you got to pay him. But I think he's such a physical presence. He's like AJ Brown. He's just bigger and stronger than the corners that are going to guard him. So he's a major pain in the butt to defend. You know, he got world class speed, big body, catching radius pretty good. And I don't know if he's a good blocker. I've never looked at those analytics or numbers, but he's just different. He's a different type body. Mike Williams was like this and kwon Bolden big and DK's got the world class speed like AJ Brown. But it's not the reason you're seeing potential trades. Is the free agent market, which has always been overrated, is not good this year. It's not a great draft. It's not a great free agent market. So the Chicago Bears have very smartly made two trades to go get two starting guards.
That's smart.
If you look at the current free agent market for receivers, the best is Devonte Adams, and I would take a look at him, but he's very very expensive now. It's also not a great wide receiver draft. There's one or two. I really like Christian Kirk, Tyler, Lockett, Keenan, Allen, Stefon Diggs, Chris Godwin's hurt a lot.
Good player.
DK Metcalf right now is the best available player on the market, and I would say Devonte Adams is two. I think Dk metcalf if now. Jim Harbaugh's history is he doesn't necessarily need great, great receivers to get to Super Bowls or to get the Natties in college. But Metcalf is unique. Davante's still very good. But we'll go back to this. Did Deavonte win games for the Jets? No receivers aren't necessarily winning you games. Oh, lines are pass rushes, are dominant run games. Are quarterbacks are they can add.
There? I always look at this. I think.
A good receiver, especially an over the top playmaking receiver, it's a freebie, like once a game you're gonna get a fifty yard play. You don't get a lot of those with running backs. You don't get those with tight ends. Not a lot of quarterbacks run for fifty yards scrambles. But a great big play wide receiver like Davante or DK Metcalf is a little bit of a cheat code. You'll get, like you know, a big pass interference call up the sidelines forty five yards, you get a big fifty yard play. I don't think you can build around them. I don't think you can count on them, especially in December January when it's windy and cold, and if your quarterback has a brock pretty arm and not a Josh Allen arm, there's limitations on how far they're gonna get the ball down the field or a two arm. But I do think over the course of a regular season, a big play perimeter guy can give you free yards, give you a couple of freebies a game. Tyreek Hill little drag route turns into a sixty seven yard touchdown just makes it easier on everybody. So I think there's I think that the Chargers are an interesting spot.
They need a one.
It would make Lad McConkey, who I believe is at two in this league, a legitimate two. Move him down Palmer's then a three. They got their tackle set, their quarterback set. I think their secondary now is fine. They're going to move off one of their edge rushers. They'll pick that up in the draft. So the Chargers are I think DK Metcalf the Chargers are discussing it. I think you make a call to John Snyder, kick the tires and say, what do we got to give up now. The other thing is Harbaugh just got out of college football. They had a great draft last year, so Harbball is going to be very good with the draft for the next three years, and they.
May not want to give up picks.
Harbaugh's like, hey, I'm gonna draft better than any NFL coach because I just got out of college football.
So I don't want to give up a first, second or third. I'm not going to do it. I would get that as well. Hour three next
