Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome in. It's The Herd Live in Los Angeles, Range soaked water Log, Los Angeles. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks for megan us. Party your day. J Mac joining me Azzola as I had to take a dtour to work. Had to get off the freeway, multiple wrecks, No big deal, those are my issues, not yours. I drove through neighborhoods, pools. The Poseidon adventure is crazy. What's happening to our city, our beautiful city? A blizzard in the winter, flooding everywhere. I don't know. I'm one day, one day closer to getting a doggy raincoat for my guy buddy. He hates it when it rains. I don't like walking him in the rains. First of all problems though, right, coward? Yeah, So let's start with this Steph Curry. Last night went Steph Curry thirty nine points, eight three pointers, eight rebounds, eight assists. And we know he's one of the all time greats, but to be the all time greatest at everything, like Muhammad Ali, you have to be able to transcend eras right like Muhammad Ali's grace and footwork and power and IQ and speed, devastating right hook. The greatest ever. I always thought the greatest point guard Everard would was Magic Johnson. In fact, if you look at the all time greatest starting five, I would put Magic at the point, Michael at the two, Lebron at the three, Bird at the four, in Kareem at the five. Now there's been some pushback on Bird, maybe Duncan or Malan, but I always say this, Larry Bird ten years ago it became a shooters league and it will be for the rest of our lives. Bird today would crush it. He was almost a European in his skill set, his ball handling, his ability to shoot and pass. He is modern basketball. Tim Duncan would be great, so would Malone. They'd win a lot of games. But basketball's changing and it's moving away from Duncan. It's moving into Larry Bird, and I always thought four of those five and maybe now with Bird, as the game changes, they're really irreplaceable. They'll never be another Kareem Lebron Michael. But Steph Curry makes me wonder. Ten years ago the world changed in basketball, and from this point forward, actually that point forward, it will always look different. Passing, ball, handling, shooting. Magic couldn't shoot like that. Now. Both are below average defenders. Magic was not a great defender. He had a hole in his game, and Steff's not a great defender. The difference is Magic wasn't a great shooter. He was flashy, he was a great finisher, and because of his sheer size, he could do things Steph never could, like play center in the finals against the Sixers. But Magic can't do this. Magic couldn't drop twenty two points in seven minutes. Magic, as great as he was, didn't have a lot of duplicators. High school, AAU college, pro. Everybody's trying to rip off Steph Curry. He's had massive influence in the game, and I swear in the last year, on his best nights, he's never been this good. I just wonder as we look if you think about the all time greats best running back I've ever seen as Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears. Why because his speed and power and movement would be as good today as they were then. There are certain players, as we look at, and they were good for a time, a lot of centers in the NBA in the sixties and seventies and early eighties, but the game's now too skilled and too fast. Teams we romanticize, like the Nicks and the Pacers series, eight of the ten starters couldn't shoot. That's not basketball, it's not aging well. But I look at Steph Curry and that's starting all time five, and if you put it in the context of they would be playing together, it would be a real team. If you don't think Larry Birds should be on that, you've got nobody to shoot the three. That's ridiculous. That would be like having a quarterback in your all time football team that doesn't really throw very well. You've got to be able to shoot. Kareem's not gonna do it. Michael was never a three point shooter. Lebron is hot and cold. If you don't put Bird on that team, who shoots the all time greatest team starting ten years ago the world changed. In basketball, you've got to have at least two great shooters on it, and so to me, Magic was never a great shooter. I think today, if I was to rework it, I'd have to strongly consider Steph Curry as the point guard. If you're asking why Walter Payton's the best running back ever, or why Jim Brown would still if he was twenty three years old, be a dominant player today, or why Ali is the greatest because they work in every single era. Most great centers don't. That's not to say that Magic wouldn't be good or Duncan wouldn't be good. But bird Bird is today's basketball. He's a better version of Dirk Navinski, who would also work in any era, and why he's probably historically a tad underrated and will appreciate Dirk Navisky more as the game ages. Fifty years from now, we'll be like, remember that guy in Dallas who won a title, the seven footer who could shoot. So I think Michael Lebron and feel irreplaceable in the all time starting five. But Jannis another five years like this, gotta consider him somewhere, and Steph Curry over Magic. I know we all love magic, even bird love magic. Steph Curry's that good. So the Lamar Jackson story, I know everybody's getting tired of it, but it's like Aaron Rodgers, It's like Baker Mayfield. When a star quarterback is viewed as polarizing or controversial or in conflict, it's interesting. So Lamar Jackson. Yesterday, Stephen Ruiz came out and it was very interesting. This is something Jamax said yesterday that Lamar Jackson's career stats against the teams that aren't interested in him, the four or five, are phenomenal. He completes seventy nine percent of his throws, ninety six percent on target. His numbers against teams that have publicly said they're not interested, he's like the greatest hurderback of all time. But this is something that I think we forget about momentum, is that there's only five quarterbacks in the entire league right now. There is only five that if they were on the market, there would be bidding wars at least fifteen teams. Mahomes, Burrow, Lawrence, Herbert, Josh Allen bidding war multiple team. Now, Kansas City wouldn't be in the bidding war because they have one of those teams, but almost everybody. Even if you had a Kirk Cousins or a Dack, you'd kick the tires. If Mahomes or Burrow were on the market, then there's another group where you'd have multiple suitors, but they all have a thing to worry about. Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, Stafford, Stafford's health, Aaron Rodgers age, Lamar Jackson's health, and Jalen Hurts has really only had one great year. People want to see you do it two, three, four years. Those are good to great, but there's something that limits the market. Lamar's in that group. Remember a year ago, I would have had Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray in that second group, but of course things change, and two years ago I would have had Deshaun Watson in that second group. But you know, things change, fluidity, the world changes. Lamar Jackson's last twenty two games, he's miss ten and he's getting incredibly noisy on social media and on the heels of Kyler Murray and Aaron Rodgers. Drama teams are a little reticent to go all in. Remember the more you run, or the more you get hit. Things change faster. I said this yesterday to somebody at Fox in the hallway going to lunch. If Lamar never been injured, I think you'd have a bidding war, or at least a significantly larger group of teams interested. But Arthur Blank was quoted yesterday saying owner of the Falcons, looking at it objectively, there's some concern over how long he can play his style of game. Of course, there is now based on things changing over the last twenty two Raven games. Folks, all you Bitcoin bros thought you ruled the world and then like six days later, we were all making funny you. Some of you thought you were going to be millionaires selling fuzzy images of something and fts now we're all making funny you. Things change. I had Deshaun Watson as multiple bidders couple years ago, and Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray and we'd all acknowledge the Packers. Now forget everybody else. The Packers are tired of Aaron Rodgers drama, and he went to the division every year. I don't think anybody's and tie Lamar, but I do think that list of teams that would never forget this. Tom Brady the greatest quarterback of all time. When he left for Tampa three years ago. Two teams, Chargers, Bucks were truly interested. Two of thirty two. Well, he's old, greatest of all time, never hurt, probably the best pre snap quarterback in the history of the game, impeccable leadership skills, never in trouble, gets along with everybody. Two teams, Aaron Rodgers, the MVP of the league two of the last three years. Even the Packers aren't interested. Folks, five percent, maybe two percent of any industry, any industry, radio, law, tech, football, two percent is going to create massive bidding wars. Everybody else falls into that second group, third group, and those groups change regularly. Okay, Nick Wright one hour from now, shack was apparently a little bummed out. I like this. He's admitting it when Lebron became the all time leading score kind of bum shack out. Saw that story yesterday, talk about that coming up, and Green Bay is now talking about Jordan Love. I don't know if I love what they're saying. That's around the corners. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in non Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app all Right, welcome back, Nick Wright, Top and Next Hour. So Shack has parlayed his basketball gifts into a remarkable endorsement career very early on. But when you're distracted very early on, you have to you know, there are consequences, maybe the wrong word. You you have some uh you know, debts, some things that won't be as good as they could have been. Shack had an amazing career, as everybody knows, four NBA Championships, multiple time MVP. What he scored twenty eight thousand, five hundred ninety six points, three straight final MVPs. Nobody disputes any of that, but he did acknowledge when Lebron came the became the all time scoring king, he was a little jealous. I'd say it was all the time. It was a professional jealousy at that moment. I wish that was me. I murder, I would have did me. I'm the greatest. The truth is Lebron isn't more talented than Shack. He's just more focused focus matters. Shaq got heavy, played his way into shape some years. By year two in his prime, he was doing a movie, Blue Chips, a couple years later he's doing Kazam. He's in his prime. Lebron, Brady Kobe in their prime were all ball. Now later Lebron the Laker move a lot about commerce, Brady Tampa a lot about commerce. Kobe in retirement, same thing. Kareem is the greatest center of all time. That's indisputable. Russell has the most titles, best defensive center, arguable. I think Shack has always been Wilt. He's the most talented. The two of them are the most talented. Wilt didn't win as much as he could. He was distracted a little flaky, And let's be honest about Shack, he was always a little distracted. Now, I do think there's about seven or eight players, maybe more, off the top of my head, that fall into a category of uniquely physically gifted. I think Wilt's in that, Lebron's in that. Mj is in that magic for his size, in that, Shack is in that. I think Jannis is probably in that. Look different, play different. Michael Jordan's ability to play on the ground is the greatest player playing the air is hand size. Michael just did things other great players couldn't do. But to me, Shack has always been Wilt probably the greatest physical talent in the history of the sport at his position. But I think he would also admit movies, djaying videos. They were part of the package. Basketball was a part. It was a part of Shack's life in his prime. That was not the case for Kobe Brady or Lebron j Mac with the news. No, no, this is the herd line news. I almost forgot just how dominant Shack was. I went and looked at his stats. So he enters the league. Remember out of LSU his first year as a rookie, twenty three thirteen point nine rebound, three point five blocks as a rookie. So I covered him in Orlando. I was in Tampa, and I was the only guy in the sports department that loved the NBA. So whenever the Magic had Penny Hardaway, Dennis Scott, Shack and so I think Horace Grant, I could be wrong. So I'd be like, oh, I'll go cover him tonight in Orlando, and I'd go do features. That was the skinny Shack. So the Laker fans and a lot of people remember now big Shack. But when he came into the league, he was much Stinner and ran the court. I remember being the late Jerry tart Canian. We were at something called the Shark Club. It was a bar nightclub that Tark let them put his name on it, Tark the Shark, and he got a percentage of it. So I am there one night and I am with a sportswriter, me and Tark, and Tark said, I remember that night, said Shaquille O'Neill. There's this kid at LSU who is going to be the greatest basketball player of all time. He's like, it's what he can do and run the floor. Tarks like, there's never been anything that looks like that. And if you go back to the early Shock days, unstoppable. Oh, it was the forced I mean he would dunk it and there were times he pulled the whole basket down. There's a video of that. The last team to knock Michael Jordan out of the playoffs Shack's Magic when Michael came back like halfway through the season and Orlando ousted them because Jordan never made the playoffs with the Wizards. But that Shack team, Nick Anderson, Dennis Scott, Penny Hardaway awesome. It's a short list of the greatest teams Utah Jazz that that never won a championship, New York Knicks, Patrick Ewing, John Starks stops. Come on, Oh my gosh, gave seven. I don't even want to rehash it. Let's move on to the NFL. Dak Prescott has played every game during his first four seasons with the Cowboys, but over the last three you know, you bang on Lamar, Colin, Dak Prescot has missed seventeen games over the last three seasons. At the owners meetings, Mike McCarthy discussing what he is hoping to see from Dak in twenty twenty three. My goal is for Dak to play twenty games next year. He's thinking big time. You know, Colin, should we should we talk about Dallas and potentially getting to like an NFC championship or Super Bowl in the NF I don't understand Cowboy fans. I've given up. They are over the moon on Brandon Cooks, a nice nine hundred yard receiver. They lose one of the top two or three play callers in Kellen Moore in the league. Nobody would dispute how valuable great coordinators are. I mean, Kyle Shanahan the coordinator Matt Ryan becomes MVPN goes to a Super Bowl. Nobody you know Buddy Ryan for years as a great, you know, defensive mind in Baltimore. Nobody would dispute that they lose one of the top play callers and a highly productive tight end. As tight ends are emerging in the league, and you think yourself, we'll go get a tight end. But by the time the Cowboys draft in the first round, it's very possible the top two tight ends are gone. We know the Chargers want to tie ind the Jets may want to tie in, the Lions may want to tie Commanders. Yeah. So it's like the idea that Dalton Schultz leaves. Look at he was a security blanket, especially for a team that doesn't have a second great wide receiver. Brandon Cooks is not a great wide receiver. Ceedee Lamb on certain nights is. So don't forget about Stefan Gilmour in that secondary colin. I mean goodness, that's a huge pickup. Cowboys fans really think their defense is one of the best in the league. I mean they are over They have some of the best Treyvon Diggs and Micah Parsons, are two of the better players at their position in the league. That is true, you could. You could The Niners have like six players at that level. Just want to remind people they beat up on a lot of bad teams last year, you know, stomping the count of the Bears by like fifty. That like settled down. Next up, Matt Stafford. This is interesting. Matt Stafford ended last season on the ir spinal cord contusion. Yet the elbow issue Afford was one of many injuries the Rams had during their extremely disappointing year. McVeigh was asked about Stafford at the owner's meetings and said Stafford will be ready to roll with no limitations. Colin, I'm trying to find the last time Matt Stafford has spoke publicly about the Rams and football and injuries. I can't find anything. You've been on this for a while. You hear stuff out there and it's like they're saying all the right things. We'll see what happens. You optimistic about the Rams this year, Well, they don't have a first round pick. I believe they have a second, a couple of thirds. I'm not sure if they have a fourth. They have a fifth. Bunch of fifth, bunch of six, bunch of sevens. They've got I think eleven draft picks, and as Seattle proved, if you hit on them. You know, if you go hit on a running back like Seattle didn't the second and then you hit on a couple of tackles, It's amazing how things change. Their biggest issue is Stafford's not mobile and comes with a warning label has been banged up. So job one is to solve the offensive line. Yeah, so you would think the early picks will be part of that, you know, and they're up against the cab. My takeaway is if you have an elite coach McBay is, and you have an elite quarterback Stafford is. I think we're overstating how bad the Rams are. I don't know. I mean, by the way they lost Jalen Ramsey, it should be noted the Jets and the Broncos had great corners last year. Go look at the great corners Lattimore, I mean, Sir Patrick, Surtan, Sauce Gardener. I don't know if it's just about tell me a team in the NFL right now with a great offensive coach and a really great quarterback who stink because Stafford didn't play most of last year. It's just hard the way the rules are, even like saying in the NBA, we've got two great wing shooters, you're gonna win some games. Like so the idea the Rams are gonna put what when you get into trouble is where the Jets are. Where you've got a defensive coach that's kind of unproven and you're not set at quarterback. That's when you get bad. Remember the NFL, on average, has four lousy eight teams a year. I have a hard time believing McVay and Stafford, if they're upright, are gonna be lousy. Right, you know, I'm not going to break down the offensive line, but it's not very good. Here are their skill position players. They're starting running back on the depth chart right now is Cam Akers, who they do not like. That's right. The backup is Kyran Williams, who barely played. Their wide receivers Cooper Cup Alan Robinson, who they're trying to dump actively Van Jefferson, who can't stay healthy is never really a factor. Yeah, and their fourth wide receiver Ben Scronic at well, Colin, if I said to you that the eleven starters on defense. For the Rams, you probably would not have heard of like six of the guys, but they have a second and two thirds. What if they go out in the second round it is again second third, first round, a lot of receivers, and they go find a te Higgins in round two. Then sudden you're like Cooper Cup, Tee Higgins, Matt Stamford, John McBay. Again in this league, if you can hit on draft picks, we thought Seattle was a disaster. They hit on their first five picks. By the way, the Jets a bit of a disaster. Joe Douglas hits on the first four picks last year, but due Douglass is not the same guy as the Rams. GM. I'm just you said second round pick twenty twenty one. Their second round pick was two two at Well twenty twenty. Their second round picks were Cam Akers and Van Jefferson nineteen. Their second round pick was Taylor rap Like, I'm not bagging on the GM, but those guys barely they're not really factors. You just mentioned the Jets. Other guys are starting on a good defense. Listen, I have my concerns about the Rams, but we need to get to the third story, which is huge. I dropped my latest mock draft for Fox Sports, Yes, and we got the top ten guys here. A lot of people are gonna be angry. I don't want to hear it now predicting. Yes, Now, I'm predicting what I think is gonna happen, and everybody's gonna hate it. I think I'm the only man on in America that has Anthony Richardson going first. I still maintain I don't think they trade it up for tiny Bryce Young. I could be wrong, It's fine, I'm not. I have no issues being wrong. I do think Bryce Young to Houston would be very good. Houston. You've talked me into some good things there. Now here's where it gets interesting. Number six Detroit Lions. I've been saying this for a little while. A quarterback is going to be in play. Do you like the idea of Will Levis sitting behind Jared Goff being a cheap first round pick? Just the contract and you move off golf after this year. My takeaway on this mock draft, if the Colts can get CJ. Strout at four, they should. They should bathe and Christall. That would be a let's just remember before and again, I like CJ. Trout before the playoff game against Georgia. Yeah, there was a lot of questions whether he was even a top ten pick. So a lot of the CJ. Stroud hype is based on one playoff game with a month to prepare for Georgia. We would agree with that, right, c J. Strout's regular, Jason's good, but they're beating up on bad big ten teams. Jalen Carter I have slipping to Tenay feel it Georgia. I think Chicago Bears would be absolutely overjoyed if they got all those picks. Dj Moore moved to nine and get Paris Johnson, Who's gonna be a monster NFL tackle? Well, I mean, I'm telling you, if I'm Chicago, I get Dj Moore and Ovos picks and one of my two to three really big needs is an offensive tackle, and I get the I get the best one on the board. Yeah. If this turn your mock draft is gonna make the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears that you would be getting. Whether those guys are great or not, it does appear you'd be getting value. Paris Johnson some of his videos, I mean, who, what do I know, I know people that you know they're not sure about Paris Johnson, but that to me right there. So the Gonzales kid going to the Raiders. I was looking to the Raiders if they need a corner. Like when you look at quarterback rating aloud and some these numbers, the Raiders were really really bad and say they have to go defensive back in Gonzalez is talented. He would start from day one. Yeah, there's a lot of good football players there. Yeah, the draft is getting here's the money. Yeah, here's the team that's really guaranteed. The team that's the luckiest is Seattle because they're not going to take a quarterback. I would guess they could. But if the first two teams are taken a quarterback and the Culture taken one at four, so Pete Carroll's a defensive guy, they could use another interior defensive lineman. Jalen Carter could fall to them. Who's probably the best pure talent the draft or Will Anderson potentially or the second best. So Pete Carroll sitting there thinking I got one or two needs defensively because they don't need a quarterback, Seattle is gonna get arguably Will Anderson or Jalen Carter, and a lot of people think those are the two best players in the draft. Seattle is going to get their pick, potentially at five, of the two best players in the draft. Jayalen Carter is interesting because he could go, like you said, around four or five from not four but five, and then there's a chance he falls out of the top ten if teams start doing their homework and they're like, I don't know, remember you were the one who said, what was it? McShay had some reports on behind team. I think gets some stuff coming out. I think Jalen Carter is such a unique body type. You get one like you get a player like Jalen Carter like every other year. Like I think I think he's gonna go to Arizona. I think Aaron's gonna Arizona is gonna say we're a mess, we don't care. Nobody likes us. Anyway, we'll get I mean literally, the media's crushing us anyway, they'll just crush us more. We're gonna take Jalen Carter. Man, he's not gonna be available to saw it. I could see Arizonas and by the way, then Seattle probably gets Will Anderson, who a month ago is targeted as the number one player in the drift. Well, Arizona is the biggest trade down candidate because they have like they might have the weakest roster in the NFC. It's very different. They want to trade down. I'm not sure if there's any takers it does somebody want to move up if CJ. Stroud is there after the first two picks, if Shroud is available, do you want to go up to three and get Stroud because he's not gonna get past India four. It is interesting. The Jets had a great draft and literally we look at their roster today and go, wow, two years ago we thought it was a complete rebuild. Seattle had a great draft last year, five starters, five or six, and we look at Seattle now, we're like, oh my god, Like now they got two first two seconds, two fourth. Yeah. You know, as much as we talk about free agency and stars, if you just have one great draft where you get four starters, who can a sauce gardener a star back, it is amazing. Seattle solve their running back issue, their tackle issue, and their corner issue one draft and they're not paying those guys mostly anything for four years. The draft still matters. Where to go? That's j Max mock Draft Jamack with the news. Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The Herdline News. So I'm driving at work today and I had to take early exits, and you know it's I drive to work very early. It's dark and it's it's it's there. You can't see anything. So I take will share. I go down. I don't take it much. I'm figuring out how to get across. I go into a back neighborhood. It's not well lit. I'm lost. I'm on GPA. It's amazing rain in Los Angeles. Everything implodes. It's crazy, right, just nuts. Why I'll always defend people and teams taking big swings. That's next. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and newon Easter nine a m. Pacific. A. Hi, this is Jay Glazer. And you may know me for the world of football or fighting or even shows like HBO's Ballers. Well you don't know is for my entire life. I have lived in something I refer to as the gray depression anxiety. So now I'm coming out with a new podcast, Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer where each week, well we talk about mental health. I hope to describe it, give it words. Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. Saturday on Fox, Baseball is back. The Giants battle reigning MVP Aaron Judge, and the Yankees four the Philly's take on Cory Sieger and the Rangers. It all begins Saturday at three thirty Eastern on Fox and the Fox Sports appam Nick right top of the hour. So it's good to have been the So it's the NFL like owner meetings, and the coaches are there, and stuff's all over the internet, pictures of gms and coaches and quarterbatton out quarterbacks, coaches, gms. Yeah, a lot of executive stuff boring mostly OBJ was there yesterday. So Matt Lafleur obviously is going to have a large crowd around him considering what's going on with Aaron Rodgers. So he talked about Jordan Love. I'm going to play you three separate bytes. This is Matt Lafleur, Green Bay Packer coach on Jordan Love. Just listen to the words replacing Aaron Rodgers. Certainly. I think we're fooling ourselves if we think he's going to go out there and perform at a level of to the likes of what Aaron Rodgers. I mean, this guy is a once in a lifetime, a generational talent like so um. And I don't think it necessarily started that way when he first started, you know, but he progressed into that, so you know, it's it's it's like I said, it's going to be a progression. All right, he's been there three years. I'd like a better word than progression. Let let's be fair, though. Let's go to a second bye. Matt Lafleur on how they won't have the highest expectations for Jordan Love. It's going to be a different role for him, certainly, and I think we all have to kind of temper our expectations with him, you know, for him, it's just it's different when you're going into a game versus when you're starting a game. It wasn't great temper expectations. Nobody really has great expectations. Here's the third bye. Lafleur were on how it's gonna take some time for Jordan Love. It's gonna be a process, but it's gonna be you know, it's gonna be exciting for him, for us, And you know, I don't think any quarterback can truly do it on their own in this league. So it's gonna be everybody rallying around him and trying to play at their best of their ability so that he can go out there and perform as good as he possibly can, as good as he possibly can't. Doesn't exactly sound like they have Herbert, Trevor Lawrence or Mahomes on their hands. Two things I think the Packers are telling you with all these bites and all this sound and all the leaks and all the reports, He's not Mahomes. He's not Borrow. If he was, they wouldn't have signed Aaron to an extension. Right, Alex Smith was a Pro bowler. They moved off him as a Pro Bowl quarterback who was getting the team into the playoffs. Moved off him for Mahomes. You're not gonna be that. He's not gonna be up across top five or six. We also know they would keep Aaron and deal with his drama if he was awful. If it was like Zach Wilson, you know, or frankly early Darnold too many interceptions, it's not going to be that, So he's probably somewhere. I would guess between the thirteenth best quarterback and the twenty third. That's Daniel Jones, Mac Jones, Ryan Tannehill, and that tells me the Packers are in the nine and eight eight and nine category. Now, before you freak out, that's where they finished last year. If I had to predict the NFC North, I did get three divisions perfect this year. It should be noted if I had to predict the NFC North, and I think the NFC is harder to predict than the AFC because in the AFC you have much better quarterbacks dominating ascending star quarterbacks. I would pick it to be a very even looking division. Nobody's great, there's no proven great head coach Lufleurs won a lot of regular season games. I'd probably have the Lions if they have another solid draft, and they've been very good the last several years drafting. I like how hard they play, I like their offensive pieces. They solve their cornerback issue in free agency, their primary issue. I'd have them with good coordinator play ten and seven. Minnesota will still be good. They can't possibly win every single close game and go eleven to O in those type of games, they pull back to nine and eight. Green Bay in the same area Jordan Love not quite as efficient, perhaps as a Kirk Cousins. Maybe they get swept by the Vikings. That's the difference. They're eight and nine Bears. I think have solved a lot of issues. If they can hit a couple of home runs on the defensive side. With Matt Eberfluss head coach, Justin fields gets better, he should more time and other offics season better weapons. They'll be much more dynamic offensively. That's indisputable. And if they could get Paris Johnson like McIntire's mock draft, they will have solved their tackle issue. I think they're kind of in an eight and ninth space. Green Bay's issue is Detroit and Chicago. Detroit is good and Chicago should be considerably better. So that's where I land today. Remember Aaron was six and ten in his first year, and so La Fleur's first bite is accurate. You sort of there's a difference coming into games and being the guy. Green Bay's roster is good, It's a very good roster. They need pressure on the quarterback. They were twenty seventh and sacks. They got to get better on the edge defensively, and they need to be more productive at wide receiver and tied in. So I think this morning that's kind of where I land on the Packers. J Mack your thoughts. The division Detroit barely over Minnesota, Green Bay, Chicago still makes two any mistakes to be a playoff team, but they look different, much more viable. Couple upset wins, and they can take a punch. So just to recap La flour one, I believe with Rogers thirteen games, twelve thirteen for like three years. Yeah, and then last year they created a little bit. Yeah, and you think they're not going to create any further with Jordan love In at quarterback. Well, if they get a second they've tend to draft and developed well. So the old line, which they attacked a couple of years ago. Baktri read that his deal, so we were I was very worried about the old line before last year. It's better they've solved some of those issues they have to What they need is readily available in the draft early tight end, receiver, edge rusher, and if they get a second round pick from the Jets. They have a history of hitting on their early picks. They tend to do a good job of draft and development. They can solve. It's not a great division those picks. Again, I think Jordan Love is going to be somewhere in the mac Jones Daniel Joe owns Ryan Tannehill space. Ryan Tannehill was a number one seed two years ago, so I don't think Mac Jones made the playoffs. Daniel Jones made the playoffs, so I think they will be. My guess is if if if they were watching him and they thought he can't play, okay, they would have just they'd leave, They'd live with Aaron Rodgers. Drama wouldn't move off Aaron to can't play, or they realize we've got to play him, or we're gonna lose him, we have to go again. Even if he's okay, well we got we got if you didn't think he could play. I mean, by the way San Francisco John Lynch says, hey, we're gonna play brock Purty. They may just have to move on. Like, if you think a guy can't play, don't play him. I guess my only disagreement would be. I don't think the Bears finishing the basement in the division next season. I think it'll be Minnesota or Green Bay. And I'm with you, I'll get the Lions. Minnesota, comp offensive coach and a top twelve quarterback. Hard to finish last in the NFL. With that, go look at the last paced place teams last year. Defensive coach, defensive coach, defensive coach, bad at quarterback. Okay, so the GM and the coach did not pick Kirk Cousins. They inherited him well, but he's still next year. After next season, there's an out in his contract. There's a lot of speculation that they maybe like what they saw on Kirk, but they're ready to Okay, let's build on. Let's get on a rookie Q. We would not dispute he's more than capable. Yes, certainly. So. Look at the last place teams in twenty twenty two. Not very many bright offensive coaches, top twelve quarterbacks. There's not a lot of that. In not it's it's defensive coaches or offl at quarterback. I will also remind you the last two years, the teams that spent the most money in free agency usually it's like, oh, you win the off season, it doesn't mean anything. The last two years they have jumped up and made the playoffs. The Patriots, I know they got smoked by the Bills and the Jaguars last year. As of right now, I believe the Bears have spent the most money in free agency. It's not a guarantee, but I would not be shocked if mid December and the Bears are like in wildcard contention and a really bad NFC. Well, they've spent some of that money on a couple of linebackers. Eberflus a defensive guy. I know you have an issue with defensive people, but he has been a pretty damn good defensive coordinator back in Indie. If he can translate some of it onto the field with the Bears. If I was Chicago, I would take a tackle with my first pick. There's an argument to go defense for a lot of the rest of the Worris Johnson or the kid from Northwestern, I would go get the tackle. But I think they're good enough at running back. They added Robert Tony in. They're absolutely good enough at tight end. They have three now capable pros, Mooney, Claypool and Dj Moore. Now they'll probably draft another receiver, but they're fine. There there's an argument get the best tackle at nine and then just flush it out and get Remember, sometimes offensive players, even gifted ones, it takes a year offenses choreography. Defense dude can play can play a young offensive players about blowing stuff up and wrecking stuff right, It's not choreography as much. So there is a sense that if you draft really good defensive player, I mean, Darius Leonard came in for the Colt an hour later, he was productive. It is harder sometimes for because a receiver and a quarterback is a timing relationship. Offensive line, it's it's you know, that's a cohesion unit. Young defensive guys can make an impact first time they're on the field. And the guy we haven't talked about is Justin Fields cullin because he basically his first two years had different offensive systems. Right, they got out of the old one, then they got the new guy. This will be the first time with some continuity. I just keep flashing back to that Bears Patriots. Remember that Monday night football game. I got took a bath on that one. I had them been survivor Patriots totally got killed and I saw Justin Fields destroy destroy the New England Patriots. I think there's a lot of upside in Fields. I personally like him a lot. I know you're not. I'm sixty forty. It's gonna work. But he's to this point, he's been a great highlight player. His highlights are great, but that's not really I think they're in the mix for a wildcard spot and they're kind of last yea. By the way, I have him at eight nine, so that means in December you will be in the NFC in the hunt for a wildcard spot in the Yeah, I think Chicago to the very end is going to be viable. Better record Bears her Rams next year, I got a better quarterback offensive coat Rams Bears. I heard

Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome in. It's The Herd Live in Los Angeles, Range soaked water Log, Los Angeles. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks for megan us. Party your day. J Mac joining me Azzola as I had to take a dtour to work. Had to get off the freeway, multiple wrecks, No big deal, those are my issues, not yours. I drove through neighborhoods, pools. The Poseidon adventure is crazy. What's happening to our city, our beautiful city? A blizzard in the winter, flooding everywhere. I don't know. I'm one day, one day closer to getting a doggy raincoat for my guy buddy. He hates it when it rains. I don't like walking him in the rains. First of all problems though, right, coward? Yeah, So let's start with this Steph Curry. Last night went Steph Curry thirty nine points, eight three pointers, eight rebounds, eight assists. And we know he's one of the all time greats, but to be the all time greatest at everything, like Muhammad Ali, you have to be able to transcend eras right like Muhammad Ali's grace and footwork and power and IQ and speed, devastating right hook. The greatest ever. I always thought the greatest point guard Everard would was Magic Johnson. In fact, if you look at the all time greatest starting five, I would put Magic at the point, Michael at the two, Lebron at the three, Bird at the four, in Kareem at the five. Now there's been some pushback on Bird, maybe Duncan or Malan, but I always say this, Larry Bird ten years ago it became a shooters league and it will be for the rest of our lives. Bird today would crush it. He was almost a European in his skill set, his ball handling, his ability to shoot and pass. He is modern basketball. Tim Duncan would be great, so would Malone. They'd win a lot of games. But basketball's changing and it's moving away from Duncan. It's moving into Larry Bird, and I always thought four of those five and maybe now with Bird, as the game changes, they're really irreplaceable. They'll never be another Kareem Lebron Michael. But Steph Curry makes me wonder. Ten years ago the world changed in basketball, and from this point forward, actually that point forward, it will always look different. Passing, ball, handling, shooting. Magic couldn't shoot like that. Now. Both are below average defenders. Magic was not a great defender. He had a hole in his game, and Steff's not a great defender. The difference is Magic wasn't a great shooter. He was flashy, he was a great finisher, and because of his sheer size, he could do things Steph never could, like play center in the finals against the Sixers. But Magic can't do this. Magic couldn't drop twenty two points in seven minutes. Magic, as great as he was, didn't have a lot of duplicators. High school, AAU college, pro. Everybody's trying to rip off Steph Curry. He's had massive influence in the game, and I swear in the last year, on his best nights, he's never been this good. I just wonder as we look if you think about the all time greats best running back I've ever seen as Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears. Why because his speed and power and movement would be as good today as they were then. There are certain players, as we look at, and they were good for a time, a lot of centers in the NBA in the sixties and seventies and early eighties, but the game's now too skilled and too fast. Teams we romanticize, like the Nicks and the Pacers series, eight of the ten starters couldn't shoot. That's not basketball, it's not aging well. But I look at Steph Curry and that's starting all time five, and if you put it in the context of they would be playing together, it would be a real team. If you don't think Larry Birds should be on that, you've got nobody to shoot the three. That's ridiculous. That would be like having a quarterback in your all time football team that doesn't really throw very well. You've got to be able to shoot. Kareem's not gonna do it. Michael was never a three point shooter. Lebron is hot and cold. If you don't put Bird on that team, who shoots the all time greatest team starting ten years ago the world changed. In basketball, you've got to have at least two great shooters on it, and so to me, Magic was never a great shooter. I think today, if I was to rework it, I'd have to strongly consider Steph Curry as the point guard. If you're asking why Walter Payton's the best running back ever, or why Jim Brown would still if he was twenty three years old, be a dominant player today, or why Ali is the greatest because they work in every single era. Most great centers don't. That's not to say that Magic wouldn't be good or Duncan wouldn't be good. But bird Bird is today's basketball. He's a better version of Dirk Navinski, who would also work in any era, and why he's probably historically a tad underrated and will appreciate Dirk Navisky more as the game ages. Fifty years from now, we'll be like, remember that guy in Dallas who won a title, the seven footer who could shoot. So I think Michael Lebron and feel irreplaceable in the all time starting five. But Jannis another five years like this, gotta consider him somewhere, and Steph Curry over Magic. I know we all love magic, even bird love magic. Steph Curry's that good. So the Lamar Jackson story, I know everybody's getting tired of it, but it's like Aaron Rodgers, It's like Baker Mayfield. When a star quarterback is viewed as polarizing or controversial or in conflict, it's interesting. So Lamar Jackson. Yesterday, Stephen Ruiz came out and it was very interesting. This is something Jamax said yesterday that Lamar Jackson's career stats against the teams that aren't interested in him, the four or five, are phenomenal. He completes seventy nine percent of his throws, ninety six percent on target. His numbers against teams that have publicly said they're not interested, he's like the greatest hurderback of all time. But this is something that I think we forget about momentum, is that there's only five quarterbacks in the entire league right now. There is only five that if they were on the market, there would be bidding wars at least fifteen teams. Mahomes, Burrow, Lawrence, Herbert, Josh Allen bidding war multiple team. Now, Kansas City wouldn't be in the bidding war because they have one of those teams, but almost everybody. Even if you had a Kirk Cousins or a Dack, you'd kick the tires. If Mahomes or Burrow were on the market, then there's another group where you'd have multiple suitors, but they all have a thing to worry about. Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, Stafford, Stafford's health, Aaron Rodgers age, Lamar Jackson's health, and Jalen Hurts has really only had one great year. People want to see you do it two, three, four years. Those are good to great, but there's something that limits the market. Lamar's in that group. Remember a year ago, I would have had Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray in that second group, but of course things change, and two years ago I would have had Deshaun Watson in that second group. But you know, things change, fluidity, the world changes. Lamar Jackson's last twenty two games, he's miss ten and he's getting incredibly noisy on social media and on the heels of Kyler Murray and Aaron Rodgers. Drama teams are a little reticent to go all in. Remember the more you run, or the more you get hit. Things change faster. I said this yesterday to somebody at Fox in the hallway going to lunch. If Lamar never been injured, I think you'd have a bidding war, or at least a significantly larger group of teams interested. But Arthur Blank was quoted yesterday saying owner of the Falcons, looking at it objectively, there's some concern over how long he can play his style of game. Of course, there is now based on things changing over the last twenty two Raven games. Folks, all you Bitcoin bros thought you ruled the world and then like six days later, we were all making funny you. Some of you thought you were going to be millionaires selling fuzzy images of something and fts now we're all making funny you. Things change. I had Deshaun Watson as multiple bidders couple years ago, and Russell Wilson and Kyler Murray and we'd all acknowledge the Packers. Now forget everybody else. The Packers are tired of Aaron Rodgers drama, and he went to the division every year. I don't think anybody's and tie Lamar, but I do think that list of teams that would never forget this. Tom Brady the greatest quarterback of all time. When he left for Tampa three years ago. Two teams, Chargers, Bucks were truly interested. Two of thirty two. Well, he's old, greatest of all time, never hurt, probably the best pre snap quarterback in the history of the game, impeccable leadership skills, never in trouble, gets along with everybody. Two teams, Aaron Rodgers, the MVP of the league two of the last three years. Even the Packers aren't interested. Folks, five percent, maybe two percent of any industry, any industry, radio, law, tech, football, two percent is going to create massive bidding wars. Everybody else falls into that second group, third group, and those groups change regularly. Okay, Nick Wright one hour from now, shack was apparently a little bummed out. I like this. He's admitting it when Lebron became the all time leading score kind of bum shack out. Saw that story yesterday, talk about that coming up, and Green Bay is now talking about Jordan Love. I don't know if I love what they're saying. That's around the corners. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in non Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app all Right, welcome back, Nick Wright, Top and Next Hour. So Shack has parlayed his basketball gifts into a remarkable endorsement career very early on. But when you're distracted very early on, you have to you know, there are consequences, maybe the wrong word. You you have some uh you know, debts, some things that won't be as good as they could have been. Shack had an amazing career, as everybody knows, four NBA Championships, multiple time MVP. What he scored twenty eight thousand, five hundred ninety six points, three straight final MVPs. Nobody disputes any of that, but he did acknowledge when Lebron came the became the all time scoring king, he was a little jealous. I'd say it was all the time. It was a professional jealousy at that moment. I wish that was me. I murder, I would have did me. I'm the greatest. The truth is Lebron isn't more talented than Shack. He's just more focused focus matters. Shaq got heavy, played his way into shape some years. By year two in his prime, he was doing a movie, Blue Chips, a couple years later he's doing Kazam. He's in his prime. Lebron, Brady Kobe in their prime were all ball. Now later Lebron the Laker move a lot about commerce, Brady Tampa a lot about commerce. Kobe in retirement, same thing. Kareem is the greatest center of all time. That's indisputable. Russell has the most titles, best defensive center, arguable. I think Shack has always been Wilt. He's the most talented. The two of them are the most talented. Wilt didn't win as much as he could. He was distracted a little flaky, And let's be honest about Shack, he was always a little distracted. Now, I do think there's about seven or eight players, maybe more, off the top of my head, that fall into a category of uniquely physically gifted. I think Wilt's in that, Lebron's in that. Mj is in that magic for his size, in that, Shack is in that. I think Jannis is probably in that. Look different, play different. Michael Jordan's ability to play on the ground is the greatest player playing the air is hand size. Michael just did things other great players couldn't do. But to me, Shack has always been Wilt probably the greatest physical talent in the history of the sport at his position. But I think he would also admit movies, djaying videos. They were part of the package. Basketball was a part. It was a part of Shack's life in his prime. That was not the case for Kobe Brady or Lebron j Mac with the news. No, no, this is the herd line news. I almost forgot just how dominant Shack was. I went and looked at his stats. So he enters the league. Remember out of LSU his first year as a rookie, twenty three thirteen point nine rebound, three point five blocks as a rookie. So I covered him in Orlando. I was in Tampa, and I was the only guy in the sports department that loved the NBA. So whenever the Magic had Penny Hardaway, Dennis Scott, Shack and so I think Horace Grant, I could be wrong. So I'd be like, oh, I'll go cover him tonight in Orlando, and I'd go do features. That was the skinny Shack. So the Laker fans and a lot of people remember now big Shack. But when he came into the league, he was much Stinner and ran the court. I remember being the late Jerry tart Canian. We were at something called the Shark Club. It was a bar nightclub that Tark let them put his name on it, Tark the Shark, and he got a percentage of it. So I am there one night and I am with a sportswriter, me and Tark, and Tark said, I remember that night, said Shaquille O'Neill. There's this kid at LSU who is going to be the greatest basketball player of all time. He's like, it's what he can do and run the floor. Tarks like, there's never been anything that looks like that. And if you go back to the early Shock days, unstoppable. Oh, it was the forced I mean he would dunk it and there were times he pulled the whole basket down. There's a video of that. The last team to knock Michael Jordan out of the playoffs Shack's Magic when Michael came back like halfway through the season and Orlando ousted them because Jordan never made the playoffs with the Wizards. But that Shack team, Nick Anderson, Dennis Scott, Penny Hardaway awesome. It's a short list of the greatest teams Utah Jazz that that never won a championship, New York Knicks, Patrick Ewing, John Starks stops. Come on, Oh my gosh, gave seven. I don't even want to rehash it. Let's move on to the NFL. Dak Prescott has played every game during his first four seasons with the Cowboys, but over the last three you know, you bang on Lamar, Colin, Dak Prescot has missed seventeen games over the last three seasons. At the owners meetings, Mike McCarthy discussing what he is hoping to see from Dak in twenty twenty three. My goal is for Dak to play twenty games next year. He's thinking big time. You know, Colin, should we should we talk about Dallas and potentially getting to like an NFC championship or Super Bowl in the NF I don't understand Cowboy fans. I've given up. They are over the moon on Brandon Cooks, a nice nine hundred yard receiver. They lose one of the top two or three play callers in Kellen Moore in the league. Nobody would dispute how valuable great coordinators are. I mean, Kyle Shanahan the coordinator Matt Ryan becomes MVPN goes to a Super Bowl. Nobody you know Buddy Ryan for years as a great, you know, defensive mind in Baltimore. Nobody would dispute that they lose one of the top play callers and a highly productive tight end. As tight ends are emerging in the league, and you think yourself, we'll go get a tight end. But by the time the Cowboys draft in the first round, it's very possible the top two tight ends are gone. We know the Chargers want to tie ind the Jets may want to tie in, the Lions may want to tie Commanders. Yeah. So it's like the idea that Dalton Schultz leaves. Look at he was a security blanket, especially for a team that doesn't have a second great wide receiver. Brandon Cooks is not a great wide receiver. Ceedee Lamb on certain nights is. So don't forget about Stefan Gilmour in that secondary colin. I mean goodness, that's a huge pickup. Cowboys fans really think their defense is one of the best in the league. I mean they are over They have some of the best Treyvon Diggs and Micah Parsons, are two of the better players at their position in the league. That is true, you could. You could The Niners have like six players at that level. Just want to remind people they beat up on a lot of bad teams last year, you know, stomping the count of the Bears by like fifty. That like settled down. Next up, Matt Stafford. This is interesting. Matt Stafford ended last season on the ir spinal cord contusion. Yet the elbow issue Afford was one of many injuries the Rams had during their extremely disappointing year. McVeigh was asked about Stafford at the owner's meetings and said Stafford will be ready to roll with no limitations. Colin, I'm trying to find the last time Matt Stafford has spoke publicly about the Rams and football and injuries. I can't find anything. You've been on this for a while. You hear stuff out there and it's like they're saying all the right things. We'll see what happens. You optimistic about the Rams this year, Well, they don't have a first round pick. I believe they have a second, a couple of thirds. I'm not sure if they have a fourth. They have a fifth. Bunch of fifth, bunch of six, bunch of sevens. They've got I think eleven draft picks, and as Seattle proved, if you hit on them. You know, if you go hit on a running back like Seattle didn't the second and then you hit on a couple of tackles, It's amazing how things change. Their biggest issue is Stafford's not mobile and comes with a warning label has been banged up. So job one is to solve the offensive line. Yeah, so you would think the early picks will be part of that, you know, and they're up against the cab. My takeaway is if you have an elite coach McBay is, and you have an elite quarterback Stafford is. I think we're overstating how bad the Rams are. I don't know. I mean, by the way they lost Jalen Ramsey, it should be noted the Jets and the Broncos had great corners last year. Go look at the great corners Lattimore, I mean, Sir Patrick, Surtan, Sauce Gardener. I don't know if it's just about tell me a team in the NFL right now with a great offensive coach and a really great quarterback who stink because Stafford didn't play most of last year. It's just hard the way the rules are, even like saying in the NBA, we've got two great wing shooters, you're gonna win some games. Like so the idea the Rams are gonna put what when you get into trouble is where the Jets are. Where you've got a defensive coach that's kind of unproven and you're not set at quarterback. That's when you get bad. Remember the NFL, on average, has four lousy eight teams a year. I have a hard time believing McVay and Stafford, if they're upright, are gonna be lousy. Right, you know, I'm not going to break down the offensive line, but it's not very good. Here are their skill position players. They're starting running back on the depth chart right now is Cam Akers, who they do not like. That's right. The backup is Kyran Williams, who barely played. Their wide receivers Cooper Cup Alan Robinson, who they're trying to dump actively Van Jefferson, who can't stay healthy is never really a factor. Yeah, and their fourth wide receiver Ben Scronic at well, Colin, if I said to you that the eleven starters on defense. For the Rams, you probably would not have heard of like six of the guys, but they have a second and two thirds. What if they go out in the second round it is again second third, first round, a lot of receivers, and they go find a te Higgins in round two. Then sudden you're like Cooper Cup, Tee Higgins, Matt Stamford, John McBay. Again in this league, if you can hit on draft picks, we thought Seattle was a disaster. They hit on their first five picks. By the way, the Jets a bit of a disaster. Joe Douglas hits on the first four picks last year, but due Douglass is not the same guy as the Rams. GM. I'm just you said second round pick twenty twenty one. Their second round pick was two two at Well twenty twenty. Their second round picks were Cam Akers and Van Jefferson nineteen. Their second round pick was Taylor rap Like, I'm not bagging on the GM, but those guys barely they're not really factors. You just mentioned the Jets. Other guys are starting on a good defense. Listen, I have my concerns about the Rams, but we need to get to the third story, which is huge. I dropped my latest mock draft for Fox Sports, Yes, and we got the top ten guys here. A lot of people are gonna be angry. I don't want to hear it now predicting. Yes, Now, I'm predicting what I think is gonna happen, and everybody's gonna hate it. I think I'm the only man on in America that has Anthony Richardson going first. I still maintain I don't think they trade it up for tiny Bryce Young. I could be wrong, It's fine, I'm not. I have no issues being wrong. I do think Bryce Young to Houston would be very good. Houston. You've talked me into some good things there. Now here's where it gets interesting. Number six Detroit Lions. I've been saying this for a little while. A quarterback is going to be in play. Do you like the idea of Will Levis sitting behind Jared Goff being a cheap first round pick? Just the contract and you move off golf after this year. My takeaway on this mock draft, if the Colts can get CJ. Strout at four, they should. They should bathe and Christall. That would be a let's just remember before and again, I like CJ. Trout before the playoff game against Georgia. Yeah, there was a lot of questions whether he was even a top ten pick. So a lot of the CJ. Stroud hype is based on one playoff game with a month to prepare for Georgia. We would agree with that, right, c J. Strout's regular, Jason's good, but they're beating up on bad big ten teams. Jalen Carter I have slipping to Tenay feel it Georgia. I think Chicago Bears would be absolutely overjoyed if they got all those picks. Dj Moore moved to nine and get Paris Johnson, Who's gonna be a monster NFL tackle? Well, I mean, I'm telling you, if I'm Chicago, I get Dj Moore and Ovos picks and one of my two to three really big needs is an offensive tackle, and I get the I get the best one on the board. Yeah. If this turn your mock draft is gonna make the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears that you would be getting. Whether those guys are great or not, it does appear you'd be getting value. Paris Johnson some of his videos, I mean, who, what do I know, I know people that you know they're not sure about Paris Johnson, but that to me right there. So the Gonzales kid going to the Raiders. I was looking to the Raiders if they need a corner. Like when you look at quarterback rating aloud and some these numbers, the Raiders were really really bad and say they have to go defensive back in Gonzalez is talented. He would start from day one. Yeah, there's a lot of good football players there. Yeah, the draft is getting here's the money. Yeah, here's the team that's really guaranteed. The team that's the luckiest is Seattle because they're not going to take a quarterback. I would guess they could. But if the first two teams are taken a quarterback and the Culture taken one at four, so Pete Carroll's a defensive guy, they could use another interior defensive lineman. Jalen Carter could fall to them. Who's probably the best pure talent the draft or Will Anderson potentially or the second best. So Pete Carroll sitting there thinking I got one or two needs defensively because they don't need a quarterback, Seattle is gonna get arguably Will Anderson or Jalen Carter, and a lot of people think those are the two best players in the draft. Seattle is going to get their pick, potentially at five, of the two best players in the draft. Jayalen Carter is interesting because he could go, like you said, around four or five from not four but five, and then there's a chance he falls out of the top ten if teams start doing their homework and they're like, I don't know, remember you were the one who said, what was it? McShay had some reports on behind team. I think gets some stuff coming out. I think Jalen Carter is such a unique body type. You get one like you get a player like Jalen Carter like every other year. Like I think I think he's gonna go to Arizona. I think Aaron's gonna Arizona is gonna say we're a mess, we don't care. Nobody likes us. Anyway, we'll get I mean literally, the media's crushing us anyway, they'll just crush us more. We're gonna take Jalen Carter. Man, he's not gonna be available to saw it. I could see Arizonas and by the way, then Seattle probably gets Will Anderson, who a month ago is targeted as the number one player in the drift. Well, Arizona is the biggest trade down candidate because they have like they might have the weakest roster in the NFC. It's very different. They want to trade down. I'm not sure if there's any takers it does somebody want to move up if CJ. Stroud is there after the first two picks, if Shroud is available, do you want to go up to three and get Stroud because he's not gonna get past India four. It is interesting. The Jets had a great draft and literally we look at their roster today and go, wow, two years ago we thought it was a complete rebuild. Seattle had a great draft last year, five starters, five or six, and we look at Seattle now, we're like, oh my god, Like now they got two first two seconds, two fourth. Yeah. You know, as much as we talk about free agency and stars, if you just have one great draft where you get four starters, who can a sauce gardener a star back, it is amazing. Seattle solve their running back issue, their tackle issue, and their corner issue one draft and they're not paying those guys mostly anything for four years. The draft still matters. Where to go? That's j Max mock Draft Jamack with the news. Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by The Herdline News. So I'm driving at work today and I had to take early exits, and you know it's I drive to work very early. It's dark and it's it's it's there. You can't see anything. So I take will share. I go down. I don't take it much. I'm figuring out how to get across. I go into a back neighborhood. It's not well lit. I'm lost. I'm on GPA. It's amazing rain in Los Angeles. Everything implodes. It's crazy, right, just nuts. Why I'll always defend people and teams taking big swings. That's next. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and newon Easter nine a m. Pacific. A. Hi, this is Jay Glazer. And you may know me for the world of football or fighting or even shows like HBO's Ballers. Well you don't know is for my entire life. I have lived in something I refer to as the gray depression anxiety. So now I'm coming out with a new podcast, Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer where each week, well we talk about mental health. I hope to describe it, give it words. Listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. Saturday on Fox, Baseball is back. The Giants battle reigning MVP Aaron Judge, and the Yankees four the Philly's take on Cory Sieger and the Rangers. It all begins Saturday at three thirty Eastern on Fox and the Fox Sports appam Nick right top of the hour. So it's good to have been the So it's the NFL like owner meetings, and the coaches are there, and stuff's all over the internet, pictures of gms and coaches and quarterbatton out quarterbacks, coaches, gms. Yeah, a lot of executive stuff boring mostly OBJ was there yesterday. So Matt Lafleur obviously is going to have a large crowd around him considering what's going on with Aaron Rodgers. So he talked about Jordan Love. I'm going to play you three separate bytes. This is Matt Lafleur, Green Bay Packer coach on Jordan Love. Just listen to the words replacing Aaron Rodgers. Certainly. I think we're fooling ourselves if we think he's going to go out there and perform at a level of to the likes of what Aaron Rodgers. I mean, this guy is a once in a lifetime, a generational talent like so um. And I don't think it necessarily started that way when he first started, you know, but he progressed into that, so you know, it's it's it's like I said, it's going to be a progression. All right, he's been there three years. I'd like a better word than progression. Let let's be fair, though. Let's go to a second bye. Matt Lafleur on how they won't have the highest expectations for Jordan Love. It's going to be a different role for him, certainly, and I think we all have to kind of temper our expectations with him, you know, for him, it's just it's different when you're going into a game versus when you're starting a game. It wasn't great temper expectations. Nobody really has great expectations. Here's the third bye. Lafleur were on how it's gonna take some time for Jordan Love. It's gonna be a process, but it's gonna be you know, it's gonna be exciting for him, for us, And you know, I don't think any quarterback can truly do it on their own in this league. So it's gonna be everybody rallying around him and trying to play at their best of their ability so that he can go out there and perform as good as he possibly can, as good as he possibly can't. Doesn't exactly sound like they have Herbert, Trevor Lawrence or Mahomes on their hands. Two things I think the Packers are telling you with all these bites and all this sound and all the leaks and all the reports, He's not Mahomes. He's not Borrow. If he was, they wouldn't have signed Aaron to an extension. Right, Alex Smith was a Pro bowler. They moved off him as a Pro Bowl quarterback who was getting the team into the playoffs. Moved off him for Mahomes. You're not gonna be that. He's not gonna be up across top five or six. We also know they would keep Aaron and deal with his drama if he was awful. If it was like Zach Wilson, you know, or frankly early Darnold too many interceptions, it's not going to be that, So he's probably somewhere. I would guess between the thirteenth best quarterback and the twenty third. That's Daniel Jones, Mac Jones, Ryan Tannehill, and that tells me the Packers are in the nine and eight eight and nine category. Now, before you freak out, that's where they finished last year. If I had to predict the NFC North, I did get three divisions perfect this year. It should be noted if I had to predict the NFC North, and I think the NFC is harder to predict than the AFC because in the AFC you have much better quarterbacks dominating ascending star quarterbacks. I would pick it to be a very even looking division. Nobody's great, there's no proven great head coach Lufleurs won a lot of regular season games. I'd probably have the Lions if they have another solid draft, and they've been very good the last several years drafting. I like how hard they play, I like their offensive pieces. They solve their cornerback issue in free agency, their primary issue. I'd have them with good coordinator play ten and seven. Minnesota will still be good. They can't possibly win every single close game and go eleven to O in those type of games, they pull back to nine and eight. Green Bay in the same area Jordan Love not quite as efficient, perhaps as a Kirk Cousins. Maybe they get swept by the Vikings. That's the difference. They're eight and nine Bears. I think have solved a lot of issues. If they can hit a couple of home runs on the defensive side. With Matt Eberfluss head coach, Justin fields gets better, he should more time and other offics season better weapons. They'll be much more dynamic offensively. That's indisputable. And if they could get Paris Johnson like McIntire's mock draft, they will have solved their tackle issue. I think they're kind of in an eight and ninth space. Green Bay's issue is Detroit and Chicago. Detroit is good and Chicago should be considerably better. So that's where I land today. Remember Aaron was six and ten in his first year, and so La Fleur's first bite is accurate. You sort of there's a difference coming into games and being the guy. Green Bay's roster is good, It's a very good roster. They need pressure on the quarterback. They were twenty seventh and sacks. They got to get better on the edge defensively, and they need to be more productive at wide receiver and tied in. So I think this morning that's kind of where I land on the Packers. J Mack your thoughts. The division Detroit barely over Minnesota, Green Bay, Chicago still makes two any mistakes to be a playoff team, but they look different, much more viable. Couple upset wins, and they can take a punch. So just to recap La flour one, I believe with Rogers thirteen games, twelve thirteen for like three years. Yeah, and then last year they created a little bit. Yeah, and you think they're not going to create any further with Jordan love In at quarterback. Well, if they get a second they've tend to draft and developed well. So the old line, which they attacked a couple of years ago. Baktri read that his deal, so we were I was very worried about the old line before last year. It's better they've solved some of those issues they have to What they need is readily available in the draft early tight end, receiver, edge rusher, and if they get a second round pick from the Jets. They have a history of hitting on their early picks. They tend to do a good job of draft and development. They can solve. It's not a great division those picks. Again, I think Jordan Love is going to be somewhere in the mac Jones Daniel Joe owns Ryan Tannehill space. Ryan Tannehill was a number one seed two years ago, so I don't think Mac Jones made the playoffs. Daniel Jones made the playoffs, so I think they will be. My guess is if if if they were watching him and they thought he can't play, okay, they would have just they'd leave, They'd live with Aaron Rodgers. Drama wouldn't move off Aaron to can't play, or they realize we've got to play him, or we're gonna lose him, we have to go again. Even if he's okay, well we got we got if you didn't think he could play. I mean, by the way San Francisco John Lynch says, hey, we're gonna play brock Purty. They may just have to move on. Like, if you think a guy can't play, don't play him. I guess my only disagreement would be. I don't think the Bears finishing the basement in the division next season. I think it'll be Minnesota or Green Bay. And I'm with you, I'll get the Lions. Minnesota, comp offensive coach and a top twelve quarterback. Hard to finish last in the NFL. With that, go look at the last paced place teams last year. Defensive coach, defensive coach, defensive coach, bad at quarterback. Okay, so the GM and the coach did not pick Kirk Cousins. They inherited him well, but he's still next year. After next season, there's an out in his contract. There's a lot of speculation that they maybe like what they saw on Kirk, but they're ready to Okay, let's build on. Let's get on a rookie Q. We would not dispute he's more than capable. Yes, certainly. So. Look at the last place teams in twenty twenty two. Not very many bright offensive coaches, top twelve quarterbacks. There's not a lot of that. In not it's it's defensive coaches or offl at quarterback. I will also remind you the last two years, the teams that spent the most money in free agency usually it's like, oh, you win the off season, it doesn't mean anything. The last two years they have jumped up and made the playoffs. The Patriots, I know they got smoked by the Bills and the Jaguars last year. As of right now, I believe the Bears have spent the most money in free agency. It's not a guarantee, but I would not be shocked if mid December and the Bears are like in wildcard contention and a really bad NFC. Well, they've spent some of that money on a couple of linebackers. Eberflus a defensive guy. I know you have an issue with defensive people, but he has been a pretty damn good defensive coordinator back in Indie. If he can translate some of it onto the field with the Bears. If I was Chicago, I would take a tackle with my first pick. There's an argument to go defense for a lot of the rest of the Worris Johnson or the kid from Northwestern, I would go get the tackle. But I think they're good enough at running back. They added Robert Tony in. They're absolutely good enough at tight end. They have three now capable pros, Mooney, Claypool and Dj Moore. Now they'll probably draft another receiver, but they're fine. There there's an argument get the best tackle at nine and then just flush it out and get Remember, sometimes offensive players, even gifted ones, it takes a year offenses choreography. Defense dude can play can play a young offensive players about blowing stuff up and wrecking stuff right, It's not choreography as much. So there is a sense that if you draft really good defensive player, I mean, Darius Leonard came in for the Colt an hour later, he was productive. It is harder sometimes for because a receiver and a quarterback is a timing relationship. Offensive line, it's it's you know, that's a cohesion unit. Young defensive guys can make an impact first time they're on the field. And the guy we haven't talked about is Justin Fields cullin because he basically his first two years had different offensive systems. Right, they got out of the old one, then they got the new guy. This will be the first time with some continuity. I just keep flashing back to that Bears Patriots. Remember that Monday night football game. I got took a bath on that one. I had them been survivor Patriots totally got killed and I saw Justin Fields destroy destroy the New England Patriots. I think there's a lot of upside in Fields. I personally like him a lot. I know you're not. I'm sixty forty. It's gonna work. But he's to this point, he's been a great highlight player. His highlights are great, but that's not really I think they're in the mix for a wildcard spot and they're kind of last yea. By the way, I have him at eight nine, so that means in December you will be in the NFC in the hunt for a wildcard spot in the Yeah, I think Chicago to the very end is going to be viable. Better record Bears her Rams next year, I got a better quarterback offensive coat Rams Bears. I heard