The Herd with Colin CowherdWhere Colin was right and where he was wrong
The NFL kickoff tweak is actually a great change
Matt Hasselbeck joins The Herd to talk about the NFL Combine, Matt Stafford possibly leaving the Rams and more
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All right. First hour down in our new digs, a second hour rolling Jmax trying to get comfortable out there on an island. He just spent his vacation on an island. He doesn't like this island. You know what they gave us, Jmax, And they never did this in the old studio Battle Scar Glack to go Gigantic, there was no snacks, So you and I had a couple of food strikes where we would feel like we were just not being taken care of. So we come upstairs. Have you seen the pantry?
Do you have me to hold up on the stream.
It's incredible. I have gone through like twelve sour Patch kids and we're only an hour or two, and so Matt Hasselbeck's gonna be joining us a lot of different stuff to talk about. We do it every Monday at this time football or not. Colin Wright Colin wrong, and here we.
Go where Colin was right.
Well, I said, once they got Luca, it would take a while to figure it out, and they won't be great defensively, but either as Denver in the West, but the Lakers will be a Western Conference Finals participant. They blew out Denver in Denver, Luca now not Lebron for the first time ever. Lucas the quarterback and the initiator of the offense, and Lebron's more the tight end or wide receiver. And I think at this point that's the best way to do it. JJ Reddick deserves a lot of credit. He's saying the quiet part out loud. Luca's gonna lead the offense, allowing Austin Reeves and Lebron to be great off ball. This is how it should work. And JJ Reddick, the new guys come in. I said this, This franchise now is Luca and JJ Reddicks. That's not a shot at Lebron, but this game against Denver is what the offense should look like going forward. Where Colin was raw, there's a story today that the Vikings are considering re signing Sam Darnold, and I'm a little confused by this. Not the franchise Tech, which would pay him a lot. So that tells me JJ McCarthy's injury. There's still some concerns. Now Daniel Jones is there but a free agent. Listen, I'm not one of these. Sam had a great year, thirty five touchdown, twelve picks. Is it a lightning in a bottle moment? A little bit? But I think Sam's in his prime. He's coachable, he moves, he's got a good arm, and I think Minnesota's really well coached. But I will be honest, I thought he was moving off. I thought he Sam would have a market. I'd be surprised if the Raiders don't make a real run in him.
So Darnold.
According to a story, Vikings open to a contract where Colin was right. I said this before I left. Keep your eyes on Aaron Rodgers. If Stafford lee to the Rams and Pro Football Talk is quoting a general manager, anonymous GM saying, yet it's being discussed. One of the reasons Stafford and the Rams are gonna discuss a new deal at the combine starting Thursday and going through the weekend. I'm told, But Aaron doesn't want a long term deal. He's been humbled a little in New York and also after playing in well run Green Bay, he probably misses a really top to bottom, well run organization. I'm not saying it's gonna happen, but I'm not surprised that Aaron, who I actually think with a staff at the end of last year for the Jets that was suboptimal. I thought Aaron was pretty good down the stretch story Today rams.
Are looking where Colin was wrong.
Well, they got Josh Hart finally back after eleven days off, but they got I thought the Knicks, we're gonna be a very good team, better offensively with Karl Anthony Towns and very good at least as good defensively. They're not. They're bad defensively. Now they're getting Robinson back and Josh Hart came back. But Boston and Cleveland attacked Karl Anthony Towns and there is nothing they can do about it. Again, I thought a lot of their defense would be solved by Michale Bridges, a very athletic wing. They cannot defend the three. In fact, I think their last in the NBA at defending the three. So of all the Knicks problems. I thought they were going to be a better offensive team than last year. Still great defense, they are struggling on the defensive.
End, where Colin was right.
Never really understood the fascination with Joel Embiid. Right now, they've lost seven straight with Joel Embiid. He got bench yesterday. Listen. I know he's talented, and I know he's worth something, but they chose Embiid is the good guy and Jimmy Butler is the bad guy. And all Butler does is win now with the Warriors and then with the Miami Heat. I don't understand his game. He's shooting more threes than ever and he's bad at it, shooting twenty nine percent. He didn't work in the Olympics with other star players, so I've never been I'm a huge MB fan. He was gifted an MVP a couple of years ago because people didn't think it was fair that Jokis won three straight. Now you're seeing the result of that huge contract. Bad news for the Sixers.
Where Colin was raw T.
Higgins looks like he could stay in Cincinnati stories today they are considering strongly a franchise tag now that would probably overpay him for the short term. But my takeaway is outside of Burrow and Jamar Chase, who are you payan you got one edge rusher. If Philadelphia can pay everybody including Dom, they should be able to pay Burrow, Jamar Chase and t Higgins. He's a really good player. He's durable, he's got a catching radius. I mean, he can take a hit, he can block a little. I'm surprised Cincinnati would open up the wallet.
Here where Colin was right.
We were huge proponents of Jimmy Butler to the Warriors and they're five and one since he arrived. They didn't have a consistent number two score. More than that though, Butler gets to the free throw line and the Warriors were bottom of the league in that category. Since he arrived, their top one to two in the league and free throws attempted and free throws made. He's feisty. He is not a naturally gifted offensive score, but he works for it. He forces you to guard him and defend him every time down the floor, and he's the kind of guy that will challenge teammates. It's his staff and I just think they needed to be more interesting.
And he delivered where Colin was right.
Deebo Samuel, the Niners have told him, you have permission to look for a trading partner. I had said last year, I thought he was the odd man out. Kittle still playing at an elevated level. Brandon Aiyuk is there down the field, deep threat. They've got to play brock Perty. They drafted two receivers Pearsol late first round. Looks like he can fill that role. Deebo is a really really good chess piece, and Kyle Shanahan does wonders with those. I'm not sure if he's the same player if he gets a defensive head coach or a staff that doesn't quite understand his value doing many things besides wide receiver. But he felt like the odd man out to me during this season, and the stories now San Francisco willing to move Colin Wright. Colin wrong with that, joining us live. Matt hasselback eighteen years in the NFL. So it's interesting. We were saying this morning, you know, you don't want to talk about a guy's money, but Matt Stafford's made a lot of it. Three hundred and sixty million and here's the scene.
I think he's three sixty five million. But anyway, that's just on the field.
That's right.
And you know, I know California taxes gobble up a little bit. But you start your career and you go to Green Bay, right, well run and Seattle when you were there, holme grin, well run. You know, at any one time there's about ten well run organizations. Right now the Rams are one of them. How much does that mean if the money is greater else whereas you aged in your life, Matt, do you sit down and go listen. Your agent may not be pushing this, but guys McVeigh indoors weapons, I got no interest in the giants. Is that a discussion you would have?
You discuss it all.
And I would even say, you know, University of Georgia is a long way from home, friends, all that stuff, but I think kids and family, like all the stuff comes into it. It's not just ex'es and o's, it's not just coaches, but there's some excitement. I would also just say it's a two way street. You know, if you're the Rams, you're saying to yourself, Okay, how many more years is he gonna play? So do we want high level quarterback play for another year?
Year?
Or two and then what or you look.
Around at some like what some of these other teams have done, you know, like where you just have consistent, high level quarterback play and you hand the baton off smoothly. You know a lot of people talk about Green Bay, but there's other teams that have had a smooth baton handoff. You know what if you did let Matt to Stafford go and you know you were able to get a younger, slightly cheaper option. Maybe it is Sam Darnold coming back to you know La, you know who knows.
But I do think it's a two way street.
All of this gets discussed and usually gets discussed at the combine. People think the combine's all about college kids working out. It's where a lot of deals get done.
Yeah, you're right. You know, somebody said this to me yesterday. A buddy of mine, John Middlecoff, former scout with the Eagles. Andy Reid, hired him, and he said the thing. He the difference between Stafford and Aaron Rodgers. Stafford will stay in that pocket and take shots. He will wait that extra half second. Aaron doesn't want to get hit at this point, like he didn't have any real interest and he said, that's the difference. It's not arm talent. It's not that one moves great and one can't move. It's that Stafford is in it to win it, and he's gonna take shots and he's gonna sit in that pocket. And he said, I don't know if Aaron at this point in his career is interested in that. What is your interpretation on where Aaron is today? If the Rams got him for two years.
Yeah, So first of all, no quarterbacks like to get hit. So I can speak, you know, confidently about that. You know, Stafford makes it look good. He's always got blood somewhere, kind of like Kurt Shilling with the bloody sock. He's always got like a bloody elbow, a bloody hand like something. I don't see the Rams moving on for Matthew Stafford with the chemistry and the rapport like they're just next level, no look passes all day long. And going to Aaron Rodgers, it's kind of like, I won't know why you.
Would do that.
I think what you would do is maybe that baton that handoff, so you have you know, you go from basically you get your finder Jordan love is so to speak. Yeah, that's what I could see happening, But uh no, I don't. I don't see Aaron in that. I don't see him in that situation. Not because I don't think he could do it, but I just it's it's kind of I don't know, they're they're too similar.
The age thing. I wouldn't I wouldn't make that move.
So Shadora Sanders played a lot of college games. We got a lot of film, a lot of tape. People have seen him. I have a scout friend that wasn't watched him three times. He's not gonna throw at the Combine. Do you like that? What do you think of that?
You know, I don't like it, but I'm not gonna hold it against him either. I'll just say this, I've been at the Combine for the last I don't know, five years with the wide receivers and the quarterbacks. I'm not planning on being there this year, but when I'm there, there's guys that choose not to throw. I will tell you once they're like, their agent tells them, hey, don't throw, You're gonna have a pro day throw there. You know, everyone advises them that when they sit around when they're at Lucas Oil stadium and they're sitting there and they're watching the other guys throw. It's killing them Like they want to be throwing. They want to be out there throwing. So what would I recommend. I'd say to the guys, listen, if you're confident in your ability throw, compete, Let's compete at everything we do.
Let's compete.
Now, you're not gonna run the forty, you're not gonna do the two twenty five bench test, you're not gonna do all that stuff. But no, the smarter thing is to not not throw, wait and just throw on your pro day. But I know it's gonna be hard watching. I know that it's gonna be boring and hard, and you're gonna, like, I want to be one of the guys, you know, getting that arm on tape. The good thing, like you said, is his arm's already on tape so people can go look at that. So he's got good film out there.
So the Darnald thing kind of throws me for a loop. I like him. I like him a lot.
I think on the love him, you love him, You don't like him? You love him?
I do. And I also kept saying all year I was waiting for the shoe to drop that Lions game. I'm like, I know, Sam, he can be reckless.
He can.
He's got a little Carson Wentz where, you know, serious to series. He looks like the best guy in the league. And then all of a sudden, Uh oh, what does it tell you that a story comes out that Minnesota is considering options here and re signing him. What does that tell you, Matt?
It tells me that everyone else did their off season evaluation and it's now getting leaked. He's the number one free agent quarterback that people are going to be looking for.
Everyone else around the league.
Likes their girlfriend more than they know they should like their girlfriend, is basically what I'm saying.
They love him.
He's their top guy, and you know, he's on the top of their list, and they're like, oh shoot, he's on the top of their list, Like maybe maybe we should relook at him a little bit closer. But they're they're well positioned. You know, they have JJ McCarthy, they have Daniel Jones, they have options. That'll be an interesting one to see. I think that's the big domino that will decide. I mean, Stafford and Donald, those are the two dominoes that will decide a lot.
Here what are you doing and we can use Sam Darneld on this. What did you do in late February early March. What do you do as a quarterback right now?
Yeah, every year is a little bit different.
The strength coaches will tell you get away, recharge, play other sports that are safe obviously, do other types of training, like if you've never you know, they played pick a ball, some guys play basketball, that kind of stuff.
Cardio, maybe you do CrossFit, pilates, like whatever.
Work on what you think you need to do to get healthy and get back so that you can be ready for your offseason training program. They'll be you know, some guys go to a quarterback guru. Some people do off season studies, but a lot of it is something new and fresh and cross training. Remember one year I went to Vancouver and lived up there for a little while and trained with the guy that trained mostly hockey players hockey and soccer ironically, and that was that was incredible for me. One time I went down to Arizona and spend time with the guy that dealt with baseball players and pitchers and that kind of thing. Something different so that when in and just kind of dabble in the throwing so that when you ramp it up in March and April, you're able to be somebody that can be healthy enough for competitive throws.
I guess, but you don't want to go all out.
You really want to peak when you show up for training camp, and it is a unique schedule like pitchers and throwers show up in baseball for their season. Football, you come back for OTAs, and you come back for voluntary mini camps, and you come back for mandatory mini camps.
Then you take like a month.
And a half off so the so the coaches can go fishing or something like that, get their vacation finally, and then you come back for training camp and that's go time when your arm as a thrower has to be ready to rule.
So do you know we were talking about the Bengals where Joe Burrell all year was cranky, and my take was he wanted to send a message. This was not a coincidence. T Higgins, Jamar Chase. They let players go like Joe Mixon, and Joe, to his credit, said listen, I look around the league at Philadelphia's roster, I look around the league at the Niners, roster. We got to find money. Are players aware on average of a team's financial situation? Is that talked about? Where you will? I mean again, so Seahawks had Paul Allen, the late Paul Allen. Money was not a problem with Seattle, right, But not every organization has a Stan Kronkey or a Jeffrey Lorie. I mean, you tell me, did you know about finances of your team and what they could afford and what they couldn't and where they were.
At, you know, at the highest level, like the teams that have all the money, you know the teams that have the least amount of money, and you know because your agents are telling you. I think the unfortunate thing for the Cincinnati Bengals, like going way back, they were a team that wasn't spending money. They weren't spending money on scouts. Like when I was coming out of the draft. You know, every team had coaches and scouts. The Bengals basically had coaches who also did the scouting.
Wow.
I don't think it was actually the worst thing, but you know, it's just it was back in the day.
It was different. Now. I think the Bengals are not the Bengals that they used to be.
I think they're willing to pay. I mean, they obviously paid Joe Burrow. They're going to pay people, But you have to get creative.
Now.
Listen, they had a lot of money spent on offense this year, and you saw that didn't work out for them as a team. So they got to figure out, like everybody else, had to put the pieces of the puzzle together. When they went to the Super Bowl, they had a formula. It was free agency on one side of the ball and it was draft on the other side of the But you know about these fantasy players. You can't lose guys like a bj Hill. You can't lose the glue guys that hold the team together. And so it's not quite as easy as you think. And when you have a quarterback making that much money, it gets a lot, it gets a lot more difficult.
So we'll see.
He said he's open to restructuring, but I would just say there's a lot of teams out there that are willing to pay and can pay top top dollar for t Higgins.
Finally, NFL changed its kickoff. People didn't like the optics. The numbers are out, concussions down, returns up. What was What do you make of that and what did you make of the change?
I think it's great.
I think it's a credit to the NFL and the NFLPA, and then also to the special teams coaches who worked in collaboration with the Competition Committee at the Combine and said, hey, here's what we think would work. I think it was data driven, which I really appreciate. There aren't a lot of concussions on punts. There's way too many concussions on kickoffs. How can we make a kickoff.
Look more like a punt now?
I would say there's a sort of the law of unintended consequences. Now your kickers got to tackle, because it's a lot more easy to design up plays. Now your kickers got to tackle. So I think you saw you probably saw. I don't have the data here. You probably saw more injuries of kickers this year because they were forced to, uh, I don't know, play a little nine on seven ball.
So we'll see.
Maybe it opens up the jet, you know, more opportunities for aspiring kickers out there. Teams don't get through the season with just one guy.
Matt Hasselback, you said you've been to the Combine, do you do you make the trip. I know you played for the Colts. It's in Indianapolis. Do you go to it?
You know what, I was uninvited to the NFL Combine in nineteen ninety eight when Ryan Leaf came out early as a junior, and so when I got the opportunity to go back as a combine mentor, what I really heard was the NFL would finally like to invite you to the combine.
So that was my true motivation calling.
Hey, that jet fuel still burning today, Matt Hasselbeck. Great, great standior, Matt, and thanks man.
All right, see you.
For years we talked about going going to the NFL Combine. They let certain people in they wouldn't let other media in. I don't know. It's one of those things. It has value and I like watching it, you know how certain things over the course of your life. Like I love mock drafts. I like the draft more now than ever. I'm not sure I feel as passionately about the Combine. I think a lot of it's window dressing. And when I see like guys like McVeigh not going or Shanahan for years, it's like, well, if they're not going. I know Belichick did but he didn't draft particularly well. Are you a combine junkie?
So when I had run the website back in the day, like fifteen years ago, I went twice, paid for my own way, got hotel rooms and the access you get is not bad, especially after hours you're at a bar and guys are just coming up to you. Hey man, I saw what you wrote about me. You have no idea who they are. They're like an assisted GM or whatever. You really meet a lot of people. I thought it was productive.
I still text a bunch of them.
You can't actually get in the facility to watch the players do the forty, So I don't know that the value is there for you, but you know it's fun and different.
It's a change of pace for sure.
Yeah, all right, Rachel Nichols is joining us in studio later live in Los Angeles.
It's the hurt one More Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Four nations in the NHL. It's a great idea. The dead time we got the post football Blase NBA All Star Game. Mah stars don't really want to play it. Lebron didn't want to play it, and so hockey says, let's do this Four Nations Cup. And it was great, it was fantastic. I loved it. And then it's over and it doesn't matter. Remember years ago they were doing these the Winter Classic in hockey, and they play out doors, and everybody's like, ah, Hockey's arrived. Finally are they playing outdoors? Are they doing that anymore? Like we don't watch hockey. We do in person and we like it. But it's Canada's and let's be honest, have an incredibly I don't think people sometimes understand how crowded our sports buffet is. Every time I fly in to Dallas and I look at these nine high school football stadiums on a Friday night that are packed. High school sports is huge in this country. College sports. There's three hundred and sixty Division one basketball programs. I'm watching games this weekend. Saint John's is good. Again. Their cities in big cities, small towns. And then you have NHL Baseball, NBA. There's a UFC on Saturdays, and the reality is in Canada they may have a couple NBA teams but the leagues ares right, and so hockey's everything. They don't have our college systems. Simon Fraser, you know, that's the one college football program I've seen from Canada. Right, So I thought four Nations was great. It was wonderful. I hope they do it every year. I'll watch the Olympics. But too much was made of what does this translate to nothing? It's t ball with the Broncos, it's the wildcat offense, it's Lynn sanity, it's amazing. Trump's polk in Canada. Trudeau's firing back. They boo our anthem. There's some good fights. It was good hockey, it was even and it was fun. And that's it. And then we go about our lives. J Mack with a.
News, no no turn. This is the herdline news.
This is an interesting one that I did not see coming.
So Russell Wilson and Justin Fields were both at quarterback last year for the Steelers.
Jay Glazer had the big scoop that Russ will not be back.
Well, now there are new reports emerging that there is some divisiveness in Pittsburgh. The owner Art Rooney wants to bring back Russ. Mike Tomlin wants to go with Justin Fields. According to this report, the Steelers are also getting linked to Stafford. Maybe they were able to get in the bidding war. Everybody he knows. Aaron Rodgers and Tomlin had a much a long standing history of friendship.
Colin, I'm surprised.
Because usually Pittsburgh's have buttoned up franchise, They've got their act together. It's gotten squarely post Ben, and now they have it like a divide among what to do with quarterback.
I don't know how this ends at.
Well, this is all on the Steelers. When Ben was aging, they drafted Mason Rudolph. Ben didn't like it, and they were like, Okay, we don't want to offend Ben. Well, the Packers offended both far Van Aaron Rodgers when they were close to their prime. Get over it. Belichick drafted a quarterback every third year with Brady in his prime. Get over it. So to me, you deserve you know. It's like it's like Democrats that complain about Trump, it's your policies that got him elected. You're complaining about your quarterback situation. It's because you didn't take it seriously for years. The Steelers have earned this and then by the time it was too late. It was a terrible quarterback class, and you reached on Kenny Pickett, who I was told was a third round pick. All the Steelers with a defensive culture, spending all their money on the wrong side of the ball, and now they look up and they're like, they've got two C plus quarterbacks. That's a and for the record in a division with Lamar and Joe Burrow. Okay, who are two of the best four quarterbacks. So I have no sympathy for people that create their own mess. This is all on the Steelers.
What's your best guess at I mean, we have no idea what how this is gonna play out.
But like, does the owner win? Does Tomlin win?
Like?
I find it hard to believe that Tomlin wants Fields when he's the one who put Russell Wilson in and despite Fields being good, remember at the beginning of the season, is.
It fair to say this? I can't take the Steelers seriously as an elite franchise until they take often seriously. And that's how I feel about him. I just if you told me right now the team's next year that I'm gonna take seriously, Washington just became emerged as a new team, and it's you know, Chargers, Rams, Eagles, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Kansas City, Buffalo. It's the teams that even if you have a defensive coach like Buffalo. So Buffalo's got Sean McDermott, they draft Cook, They've gone out and got Stefan Digs and Amari Cooper. They have drafted a first round wide receiver and a first round tight end. Like Buffalo may have a defensive coach, but I wouldn't say it's a defensive culture. They have absolutely poured resources, money in draft capital into offense. Now they overpaid for Von Miller. But Pittsburgh, I think they're going to leave the NFL. Didn't They leave the NFL for the third straight year with defensive spending something like that. Yeah, that's on you. No sympathy.
You know, the Bills got it. They got the memo. When the Chiefs keep outscoring them in the playoffs. The Steelers keep getting their butts kicked in the postseason and haven't learned any lessons. They keep doing the same thing, like what are we doing at quarterback?
Not great in Pittsburgh. Let's go to the Detroit Lions.
They got bounced unceremoniously from the playoffs, the Commanders and your guy Jaden Daniels. So then they lose both offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and DC Aaron Glenn.
Everybody's concerned about a pullback.
Well, Aiden Hutchison is in the midst of his rehab following that broken leg this season and believes that losing both coordinators will not have much of an impact.
I don't care who they bring into coach us. Obviously, keeping Dan there is what we all want, but coordinators, position coaches, it doesn't matter. It's as long as we have the right guys in the locker room and those foundation guys on offense, on defense. You can roll anyone in there to call the plays. And at the end of the day, it's the it's gonna be the playmakers are who are making those plays on Sundays, you know. So that's as long as we keep our core group, you know, keep everyone there, we're gonna we're gonna stay in this window of winning.
The Philadelphia Eagles are a great example that is not true at all. There is a big gap between the best pilots on the sky today and the worst. The Philadelphia Eagles lost Shane Steichen. They hired an OC that was over his head, and they went on like I mean, didn't they lose the last ten week.
Started ten in one, but then cratered at the end of.
Now like I got news for you. In baseball, a manager can win four games, maybe six, over the course of a season in the NBA. It's hard to screw up Lebron in his prime, or Magic or Bird in his prime. In football, Brandon Staley and Jim Harball same roster defensively worst to second best. It is football is the coaching sport.
I don't like this take from Hutchinson at all.
I think I think Mark guy, who's such a great player, what's he what?
Coaching doesn't matter.
We get to keep Dan Campbell, who cares about Ben Johnson well, and Dan's not a scheme guy.
Dan is really known as a culture guy. And now none wrong with that. I'm dad, I was wrong on Dan Campbell. I never thought. But he deserves all the credit in the world. But he's not Andy Reid, he's not McVeigh, he's not a scheme guy. He's a culture guy. So the Lions are going to be more dependent on scheme assistance. Than the Rams would be than Andy Reid would be. Andy Reid can lose guys every year. He's the scheme guy. Same with Shanahan can run through guys. That's different when you're a culture guy. Even with what Jim Harbaugh would tell you defensively, Harbaugh, you know he likes he'll spend money on a defensive coordinator at Michigan or with the Chargers of the Niners like that. The coaches know what they are and what they're not. So Detroit is going to be much more reliant on good offensive coordinators than a McVay or Reid team would be.
Final story coll to the NBA, we were on break last week. We missed it.
Victor Wambin Yama is going to miss the remainder of the season because of deep vane thrombosis in his right shoulder aka blood clots.
That is just horrific news for Wemby, the.
Spurs, the league.
Everybody likes Wenby.
I thought for sure they'd be in the playoffs this year despite the Aaron Fox.
They will now miss the playoffs. It's almost certain.
And you know, I know a lot of people concerned about the Chris Bosh blood class.
Really ruined his career. I think Wenby's gonna be okay.
This is a shoulder as opposed to the legs for Bosh, I'm hopeful.
You know, we were worried about Wenby getting injured.
And I'm gonna throw this at you. So I saw somebody in our space had said that they don't believe an international player can be the face of the NBA. So and I was thinking about that a lot. And I don't know if they can or can't. I would say, I mean Kareem Abdul Jabbar was the best player in the league for a decade and didn't want to be the face of the league. I think a lot of being the face of the league is do you want to be like? And to me feels like he's dynamic, he's good looking, he's funny. He could be a face the league. He just plays in Minnesota. So what is your take? Can you be international player and be the face of the league. So I think so too. I think now I'm not saying the time.
Now, let me ask a question, what is face of the league?
Okay, So that's a great question because that was my first take. Face of the league means you are like, for instance, Patrick Mahomes. For years it was Brady and Manning with a face of the league. I think Brett Favre in his prime felt like even more than Brady face of the league. Tom felt like a component of the system in New England. Then as Tom aged, he and Peyton became face of the league. Wholesome guys, workaholics. Okay, Mahomes now feels like, hey, the face of the league again. Good guy, funny, good sense of humor.
Well, hold on the you just named four guys on one common thread.
For all of them they won multiple Super Bowls. Like you win, you could be the face of the league, right would you agree?
Well, it's different, so all those guys are Okay. Let me be an example. When Charles Barkley was a great player in his prime, he didn't want to be Remember he was doing I'm not a role model, he was getting into trouble. Well, Barkley was funny, but I don't think you'd want him as a face of the league. But he was.
Great, not in imagine.
Michael Jordan was much more corporate.
And he won.
You got to win to be the face of the league, Yes, yes, you have to win.
Satany Edwards is out. Sorry, I love him. He can't be the face of the league. They're not winning. It's gotta be Luca.
But I think I think it's stylistic. For instance, you can't be up. I always joke that Alex English led the NBA in scoring in the eighties, but he wasn't dynamic enough in a very creative league to be the face of the NBA. He just scored a bunch of points. So there's guys like face of the league. To me means it generally means, honestly, you're a little bit corporate. I mean, Brady was kind of corporate. Jeter was kind of corporate. I mean, let's be honest, Michael Jordan Nike was corporate. He didn't want to talk politics. It tends to be somebody that the league looks at and says they don't get in trouble. Often if they're good looking, their game is dynamic, and all of a sudden, you know, stuff gets pushed in their direction. I think it's possible for an international guy. Yeah, I'm not sure if Wemby wants.
It not yet he's like twenty one two, like right, I think Wemby or Luca will be the face of the league next five years, right, because there isn't anyone on the Celtics who really wants it. It's not gonna be Tatum. I don't think it can be Jalen Brown. Celtics is the best team do.
You have to have? Like right now? In baseball, I don't know if there's a face of the league. But oh Tony, I don't think he cares that he's face of the league. He just hap. I would say he and Aaron Judge are the face of the league. Big nice guys, humble, gigantic athletes, superstars, huge brands. Aaron Judge feels like face of the league. With Otani, I'm not sure a league has to have one.
Do you think Giannis was when they won the title a few years.
No, I just think he was great. I mean good God and NBA remember when it was like the Covid year and they were putting him on at noon on NBA TV a playoff games. Remember that it was like the league was telling you, he doesn't It's also I think harder to be a face of a league when you're seven feet and above, because I think that's the book.
I can't relate.
You don't sell as many shoes as forwards and guards and ball handlers and playmakers.
J mckledanoos, Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The Herd Line.
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Usually in negotiations, somebody has a little more leverage. We were talking. Is it Stafford? Does Stafford have the leverage with the Rams? He's better than anybody on the market. He's got great chemistry. He and McVeigh get along. He's really really good. Or do the Rams have leverage really well run we have Sean McVay go ahead and go to the giants like it's very interesting. It's a bad quarterback class that helps Matt But my takeaway is if Aaron Rodgers would have been a big success in New York, then I think Stafford would have more leverage. I honestly think I think it's a little bit of a stalemate. But I think the Rams are well run, and the teams that want him, like the Raiders of the Giants of the Browns, aren't, So I think that's a that's a kind of an institutional advantage to the Rams over Stafford. The other thing that works in the Rams favor is Matt played for the Lions for twelve years. He knows what it's like to have a suboptimal organization at every turn. It also helps that he's made three hundred and sixty million. He's rich. So Matt hasselback earlier on the Rams decision.
If you're the Rams, you're saying to yourself, Okay, how many more years is he gonna play? So do we want high level quarterback play for another year, year or two? And then what or you look around at some like what some of these other teams have done, you know, like where you just have consistent high level quarterback play and you hand the baton off smoothly. What if you did let Matthew Stafford go and you know you were able to get a younger, slightly cheaper option. Maybe it is Sam Donold coming back to you know, La, you know who knows. But I do think it's a two way street. All of this gets discussed, and it usually gets discussed at the combine. People think the combine's all about college kids working out. It's where a lot of deals get done as well.
Yeah, I was told that over the weekend, is that the agent for Stafford and the Rams will meet in Indianapolis and try to nail it down. Because the Rams have hit on so many of their defensive draft picks. They're not paying anybody defensively. I mean, the slate is clean. It's just good young players like Jared Verse. They're not paying him, so their defense is cheap. What they need to do. If the Rams could absolutely guarantee they get one of the top four offensive tackles, that means either Havenstein or about to be paid left tackle last name Jackson, they wouldn't have to pay then they could afford him. So right now they're paying a tight end. They're paying Cooper Cup, they're paying Matt Stafford, they're paying Havenstein. The right tackle. So if they could get a tackle one of the four or five best in the first round, and you could guarantee that they'd re signed Matt Stafford. Because they're paying nobody defensively. They're not paying anybody in special teams. They drafted a punter, a kicker, long snappers, they're not paying anybody. All their money is on offense. They may, however, have to pay both tackles. That's the issue. That's why their first draft pick, in my opinion, should be an offensive tackle. Not because their tackles aren't good. But you can't pay both, right, like Kansas City tried to get away with it, paying you know, one hedging the other. That's just a position. When you have an older quarterback or a quarterback that's banged up, you can't score around with. So hassle Beck. Also, now there's a rumor, and I think it's well founded, and I have somebody who I trust that believes this is a possibility. Aaron Rodgers right now is you know, a little north of LA right now, working out. Got a place in Malibu. He's in good shape. He's forty one. Last ten games, he was good. Hassle Beck on the idea that if Stafford left, Rams don't want him to. If he left. The idea that here comes Aaron for a year or two is a band aid.
I don't see the Rams moving on from Matthew Stafford with the chemistry and the rapport like they're just next level, no look passes all day long, and going to Aaron Rodgers. It's kind of like, I won't know why you would do that. I think what you would do is maybe that baton, that handoff, so you have you know, you go from basically you get your finder Jordan love Is so to speak.
That's what I could see happening. But no, I don't. I don't see Aaron in that.
I don't see him in that situation, not because I don't think he could do it, but I just it's it's kind of I don't know, they're too similar.
The age thing. I wouldn't I wouldn't make that move.
The thing that you have to remember the Eagles hammered the chiefs and hammered the commanders, and we showed this video. We could show it again. Just don't forget what happened when the indoor Rams with im mobile Matt Stafford went to Philadelphia. They were driving down the field for the wind, and they were marching for the win. And they outgained the Eagles that day and out first down to the time of possession was even Jalen Hurts through for under seventy yards. The Rams were going for the win. People, forget this. They were moving the chains. Stafford had production big throat to Pooka. They got down to the fifteen yard line touchdown pat they were gonna beat Philadelphia. So you know, the one thing Stafford can say is, fellas fella, they're a completion away. You j mag you can roll your eyes watch how Philadelphia crushed almost all of their late opponents. That was a go either way. That game's in SOULFI it may not look like that.
Yeah, if memory serves, Jalen Carter dominated the last couple of plays.
Of this series against a rookie sixth round center for the Rams. Yeah, bad matchup.
I mean listen. Rams played great, no doubt about it.
They came back strong despite a woeful start in the snow.
I like Stafford, I don't think the Rams are gonna let him go.
I think it's interesting that you know, giants are all in and he's chirping, but ultimately I think.
So you're I said this to my buddy yesterday, John Middlkoff, I said, would you flip if you could get Stafford and all you had to do you have a third pick? Giants Rams have like twentieth would you flip them?
I don't think that they're gonna do that.
I don't You wouldn't flip picks to get Matt Stafford. You still have a first it's a layear or two. No, you get it. Absolutely he you sign him to a three year deal.
I don't know about that. I don't think they an.
If I'm let me tell you, if I am Brian baboll Am, I not pounding the table for that they're on. A quarterback.
Can be fired.
I don't think Brian Dable's pounding any tables. Given the situation that him and the GM.
Right, Joe Shane is never gonna get another GM job if he gets fired after that HBO Max series and the Barkley move, He's not getting a job. I cannot believe how many RAM fans or how many Giant fans are saying I wouldn't even flip the first it's a weak draft.
It's early.
Let me say, I may change my mind in a couple of weeks once we start to hear stuff come out of the combine. What if Kim Worder should do or is there at three? I don't think they will be, but what if they are. Wouldn't you rather roll the dice with one of them for a decade as opposed to two more years of Matt Safforde.
Well, I know what the Rams would do. If the Rams got the Giants pick, they flip first. You know you still have a first If you flip first, the Rams would trade down, and just because what they want to do. Yeah, what the Rams want to do is find their quarterback. They don't love either of these guys. So my take this, they would fill the roster up. Then they go get Aaron and they've got eleven picks. You hit on seven and a pretty mind.
What the Jets did. They filled the roster up and got Aaron, plugged him in. But it was stunk, but he was terrible.
One has Sean McVay. One had the Jets staff. So mcveigh's i mean, goff was seen as a bust and then he wasn't with McVeigh Baker Mayfield's career pretty much hit a dead end. Then it didn't with McVeigh. You don't think Aaron Rodgers with McVeigh for a year could not be a twenty eight touchdown seven pick.
So you read the.
Report that the Jets said to Rogers, Hey, all this doing podcast paid stuff that's out the winnow, No more than they don't.
Care about that stuff.
Interesting.
I mean, I don't care for the locker. It doesn't bother me that Aaron's doing podcast. That just just doesn't It's once a week, it's a forty minute.
It's not that the Micah Parsons podt cast, which is like friendly and jovial.
And this is a difference.
A little vaccine.
He wants to deport Fauci or something like that.
Come on, bro,
