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. Oh, it's a Friday, A glorious Friday, live in Los Angeles. It's The Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening or watching. We're on iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one. My final regular season, Blazing five. I'm fifty four and a half percent this year. I want to get to fifty five. It is a tough week. I love my picks. Dogs are barking. J Mac joins, that's one hour from now. J Mack is joining me today. I've got a couple of theories I'm gonna throw out there. You and I both love kind of the theory. Balloon we float an idea. You were all over the Notre Dame just got a star quarterback in the transfer portal. You cloated that two three weeks ago. You were right on the money. You do a good job on that stuff. You know, I injured myself yesterday patting myself on the back for hitting that Tom Brady and Vegas seems like a lock at this point. You know, listen, if you hit Aaron Rodgers and the Tennessee Titans, just give me the powerball numbers, okay, later this spring. So I want to start with this, um. So, Aaron Rodgers talked retirement again yesterday said I don't know if I'm gonna play. My future is uncertain. So he told the whisk, Wisconsin State Journal that Aaron Rodgers says, my future is uncertain. So Aaron's always been one of the headier quarterbacks. He's playing chest, not checkers here, right. It's pretty smart guy. You don't have to agree with his vaccine stance or what he says to you know, Joe Rogan or whatever, but he's he's a thinking man. Okay. So I just want you to think about that as I as I go into this. So Farven Aaron Rodgers are not the same person, but they're becoming the same Green Bay quarterback. You've seen those commercials, those Progressive insurance commercials where you know, you start becoming your parents. They're actually very very funny. Aaron's becoming far of whether he wants to be it or not. He's getting kind of rigid. He doesn't want to change certain things. Farv got very rigid. I don't want to learn a new offense. Aaron's like I want Randall Cobb and my seventy year old quarterback coach. They're becoming the same guy. And I've always called this the Green Bay Packer quarterback syndrome. It's the only franchise with no owner, so there's nobody to rain you in. You are the most powerful person in the organization. No matter how big Troy Aikman was, Jerry Jones was bigger. No matter how big Jimmy Johnson was. Jerry Jones was bigger. No matter how big Belichicker Brady are. Robert Kraft's bigger in Green Bay. Duck quarterback runs the franchise. The second thing is it's the smallest city in the country with a pro sports franchise, so you get kind of a fawning media not going to ridicule you much. Everybody sees everybody at the grocery store. You could bump into Aaron, so you're not going to get that It's a very unique and the difference is far of at least had Aaron Rodgers behind him pushing him. Aaron's got Jordan Love, and we don't know if Jordan Love can play. My guest is today can play, he can start, but nobody really knows. So it gives Aaron even more power. So I do believe this weekend that if Aaron and the Packers lost and don't make the playoffs, or they get in and then get eliminated quickly, I do believe they will strongly consider getting a first round picker two for Aaron Rodgers and rolling the dice with Jordan Love. They moved up to get him. It looks like a total blown pick if you don't play him, and gms like to play their picks, especially the first round picks. They moved up, and it does look like Jordan Love has gotten significantly better in the last year. That's what people say, That's what the film says, That's what we saw. So Aaron gets beat this weekends it there and think, what's the point we can do that with Jordan Love. We're still the best for an organization in this division. What's the point? Now? Some of you say, oh, dead cap hit. It doesn't matter. For a couple of years. You would have a big dead cat hit. But you're not paying Jordan Love anything. And this is a very complete roster. They could probably use an edge rusher, one more receiver. They went heavy into the old line last year. This roster doesn't have a lot of needs. It really doesn't. Maybe another edge rusher, maybe another receiver. That's about it. It's a good roster. It's playing very well right now. I'll throw this at you. Aaron's smart. Aaron's calculated his whole vaccine thing. He's calculated, and ask yourself this. He's gonna be thirty nine years old and he's expensive. If Aaron keeps mentioning, I don't know if I'm gonna play m The team that gets him doesn't have to give up many picks. What's green baking? Because Aaron's not going to go play for a crappy team. He'll just retire. Tennessee's the team I've put out there, so Mike Frabel goes. Hey, it gives Mike Frabel leverage. The guy talks retiring every fifteen minutes. He's thirty nine years old. He's doing aahwaskin in the offseason. I'm not giving you three first round picks. I'll give you a one and a two. I think I think, specially off the Russell Wilson disaster deal a first In a second, Aaron understands wherever he goes, he doesn't want to gut the team's draft capital. Right he wants to go to Tennessee. He wants them to have enough picks to get him another receiver. The Burkes kid, Trey Burkes. They like a lot, but they need another receiver. You don't want to have to give up multiple couple of first, couple of second That's what hurts Denver's job right now. Man, they got no picks next year. Is Aaron thinking, you know, I can talk privately with Mike Vrabel. I'm not saying Aaron's done this, but it would be really, really shrewd that you throw it out there. He's thirty nine, he's super expensive, and he talks retirement. You're not gonna have to give up nearly as much as you would if he was thirty six, says Plan until he's forty six years old. If Aaron's three years younger, and it's like, I'm never retirement, I'm wanna break Brady's record, You're gonna have to give up four first and two seconds and a third. Aaron this week talked once again about his future. Yeah, I mean for sure, just because you don't know what the future holds. But when I think about that, it's nothing but gratitude, not remorse or sadness, just gratitude for the time that I've been here, the amazing memories that I've had on this field, but a lot of great moments. But you know, I'm still undecided. We're all incided about the futures, and we're just gonna enjoy Sunday night and hopefully have some more to play for Nabulous. Nobody knows what he's doing. Aaron's Smart Titans could give up last. You think Mike Rabel thinks today he's gonna win the AFC Burrow Alan moms Herbert, but Tannehill gotta have a gunslinger, gotta have an all timer. Aaron's gonna be the one all timer on the market, potentially. All right, let's shift gears to this the toothless NCAA. Jim Harbaugh's under investigation. There was some recruiting thing during the COVID period blah blah blah. NCAA's board, they'll make him sit out of practice. Who cares Michigan's rolling. You know, it's interesting about the Harbaugh situation. He can go college r pro. So both professions, college football coaches and NFL coaches are having to deal with something that makes them uncomfortable. Let's start with college transfer portal. Players can leave almost at any time once the season's over. You got to pay them now. If they're stars, there's bidding wars. A lot of guys don't like that should be noted. The reason Brian Kelly at LSU and Lincoln Riley at USC can get to ten and eleven wins respectively in one year. Transfer portal go solve your weaknesses. So it's a good thing for the smart coaches who can recruit. It's a great thing for Brian Kelly, it's a great thing for Lincoln Riley. The old school whiners. I get over yourself. You can get It's like, you know, you get more recruits, except guys are actually playing in college football, so you have fewer whiffs, fewer busts. So some coaches are uncomfortable with that. Maybe hard by as I doubt it NFL coaches because of the global wealth we have seen explode with tech over the last ten to fifteen years. Owners are now all billionaires, all rich, and they consider forty million dollars a rounding air. You gotta win, you gotta win fast. I saw a story yesterday McDaniel, Miami Dolphins coach could get fired fired. I thought he was a success. It's insane. But billionaires are insane because they've never been richer. So I am rooting for Harball to stay in college because I do believe, having grown up in Seattle or near Seattle, that northern programs Oregon, Washington, Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State need great coaches to compete for a national title or compete for a playoff. In the South, you could hire the wrong coach. There's so many dynamic, robust high school football stars and programs. Ed Orgeron's considered a miss and you want a national title. You could never do that in a northern program. There's not as many kids up there. You're constantly convincing kids to come up north and play in lousy weather. So Harbab matters to Michigan when he got there, Michael Jordan's brand basically signed Michigan football to a huge deal. Why because he's Jim Harball. He's great for Michigan. Michigan's great for Jim. The other thing is, and I believe this to be true, think about stuff like this all the time. Stay in a job that allows you to be the best version of yourself. So you have to have some self examination. What are your weaknesses as a human being? You're driving around listening to me, What are you really good at? And what are you not good at? If you make most of your life decisions. I live by this. I think about it all the time, doing things that are the best version of me. I have things I don't do well, things I do pretty well. I think Harbaugh's actually better for college. Why Because he gets the Michigan brand. He can dominate the Big Ten mostly, he can clearly recruit. He gets to control the personnel. He doesn't have a power hungry general manager or a petulant quarterback making fifty million a year. He didn't have a salary cap to deal with, or is zany billionaire owner who gets in a bad mood because they had you know, one of his companies goes belly up, and now he wants to tell Harba how to run his team. Stand jobs, seek jobs, maintain jobs that are the best version of you. And I think Harbaugh no crazy billionaire owner, no power hungry GM. He can control virtually every part of the program. And he's a smart guy that makes lots of good decisions. He can change in a dime coordinators, he can change in a dime philosophy. He doesn't have to get it okay with a GM. He didn't have to get it okay with the owner. He doesn't have to talk to the business ops guy. I want to change my coordinator. I want to change how we play. He can do it at the college level. I hope he stays. The NCAA thing doesn't mean squat. We'll keep you posted, all right, Blazing five Final, Blazing five regular season, Well, we'll see a we do it in the playoffs. I don't know fifty four percent. I feel pretty good, feel pretty good. Let's do it in the playoffs. You can add some prop bets, first halves, totals come, we'll dig into the gambling. The audience loves it. You know that, I know people like well you like to do that be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app. Oh, it is great to be here today. It is a Friday Blazing five, our last one. Potentially, if I have a good week, maybe I'll keep going. Dwight Freeney, seven time Pro bowler, is going to be joining this this hour. So Zach Wilson Jets, Jets Dolphins are playing second third string quarterbacks. No entry, it had it. Really, if if Zach Wilson would have worked out and two was healthy, it would be a great last game. It's gonna be a dud. Stay away, don't bet it. It's a total dud. I think it's gonna be Joe Flacco against Skyler Thompson. I think the third string quarterback. Yeah, I'm not, it's not. That's not even a corner television game. As my friend Chad Milman says, that is the next room game. That's not I'm not even gonna listen to the audio of that game. But the Jets we're talking about. Zach Wilson, the quarterback got a BYU number two pick. I didn't like it. Nothing against the kid. I thought it was going to be a major whiff. It has been. Now they're saying, you know, we should have brought him in and let him sit for a while. In hindsight, it probably would have benefited, you know, just to sit back and learn a little bit uh and uh and watch a veteran and do it and just kind of grow, um, you know, in this league, kind of in the back seat, watching in getting better in practice and getting better in um through scout team and all that. But again, that wasn't the course that we went. I think he could sit for six years. He's not a starting quarterback in the NFL. You could see it very early. Herbert Burrow were forced into activity with bad offensive lines. You knew immediately, Kyler Murray forced into activity. Rookie head coach who just got fired in college bad offensive line. Yeah, got it, you got it. He doesn't. I don't mean to make it personal, but if it was about sitting, why didn't he get better year one to year two. He's small, he's undisciplined, he plays hero ball, he's got bad mechanics, he's not great at the podium. Maybe the nicest guy in the world, but Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson sat, but they sat with you, like John Harbon, Andy Reid and a veteran coach and a stable organization and good ownership. The Jets are the Jets. They don't make anything easy. And I think there's a lesson to be learned with Zach Wilson. And I know that people in the NFL watch because he get text all the time, even on my birthday. Here's the lesson to be learned. I get all the time. People will send me stuff fans and I'm like, oh, that's I never picked up on that. You can learn a lesson from anybody, even me. Be careful how much you ask of a young quarterback. He had to go from conservative Provo to New York City, the biggest, loudest media in America. He had to go from BYU schedule to Belichick twice a year. And Sean McDermott, rookie head coach play caller, was not a ton of experience, a shaky offensive line. You were asking this kid, it was like the hurdles, one after another after another after another. Even if he was Mahones, this could be choppy and turbulent. I mean, at least when Justin Herbert got to the Chargers. He didn't have the right coach and the old line was bad, but he had like Mike Williams and Keenan Allen, and he had, you know, some playmakers on defense. I mean, you know, it was choppy, but there were things. He went to a big program. He went to a sleepy NFL team, the Chargers. That wasn't that big of an ass. He had a lot of years starting. He was a big, strong kid. The old line was choppy, and the coach wasn't ideal Joe Burrow. The offensive line was bad, but he had a couple of nice receivers, he had an offensive coach. They had, They spent a lot of money on free agency. He didn't have to win by shootout, but I mean, Zach Wilson, they just kept asking things. Pro vote in New York City BYU schedule to Belichick and Sean McDermott and at the time Brian Flores. I think it was like three defensive coordinators, three of the best, like three great defensive minds, pass rushes, and then it's you know, a rookie head coach. I think Robert Saul is probably gonna make it. But you don't know a defensive coach in New York, a play caller without a ton of play calling experience. Bad old line, And let's be honest about it, it's the Jets. I think this marks the twelfth straight year they haven't made the playoffs. So people fell in love with his pro Day. There's something else we can learn. I went back and looked. I remember when I heard about Zach Wilson. I watched him play Washington years ago. He had a couple of decent throws. Talented. You know, there's some arm talent, obviously, but when you watch a guy in college, there's gotta be some WHOA CJ. Stroud against Georgia. Whoa he can run and throw Bryce Young? Whoa that gets rid of that puppy fast? Will Levis? Arm strength? Size? Whoa Herbert? There's gotta be Josh Allen was wild and crazy, six six two fifty, jumping over people, arm strength. The wow for Zach Wilson wasn't on YouTube. It was it his pro day in shorts. Can we can we scale back on the importance of Pro Day. It's the opposite of real football. There's no real thinking. You don't wear pads. There's no pass rush, So if you're a small guy, you don't really know what it's like looking over six seven left tackles and right tackles. But I think the big learning experience here is when you draft a college quarterback and you're asking him to overcome five or six things. Big Ben played at Miami of Ohio. But he got a great defense, he got a great ownership, he got a great coach, he got good run support. He had a veteran receiving corps. You weren't asking Big Ben anything other than come in here, don't crash the Mercedes right. So it's a really good car. We need you to make about four or five big throws a game. If you look at Mahomes, he sat for a while. He had a receiver yet Andy Reid, he had stability. They had to rebuild that defense, but it was like Oline was pretty good. The receiving corps. You can't ask these guys to do six and seven things out of college. Now, occasionally you'll get a Trevor Lawrence, but even he struggled last year. They asked him to overcome too much. Now this year they got him more help and free agency. They got him an NFL coach. Shocking right now, Justin Fields, I like him. You're asking him to overcome too much Bears online stinks, Receiving corpse stinks. They could use another tight end defensive coach, new offensive coordinate. You're asking Justin Fields to overcome too many hurdles. That's the lesson here. I don't mind if a guy plays immediately or sits, but this BYU experiment, provo experiment, that schedule experiment. Rookie coach, Jets shaky old line bound to fail. J Mack with the news. No, no, this is the herd line news. I wonder if I'm the only one who detects a lot of disdain when you say Jets. You know, you say it in a manner that's so negative. But hey, I get it. We stink, Am I am I being negative on a little bit. But we got some good news right out of the gate here. Colin Damar Hamlin's recovery amazing. Really amazing is the perfect word. The breathing tube has been removed, the bills announced, and Hamlin is speaking to his family members and care team. He was also able to FaceTime his teammates and coaches and he told them, love you boys. This is just great news on a Friday, outstanding. Think about how sad the news was Monday night and how uplifting it is today. We talked about this all the time. One of the great virtues in this entire process has been his youth. These guys, these pro athletes, are in such great shape. They recover. You know, if he is twenty five years old or not in shape and this kind of accident happens, but he's young, he's in great shape. You had immediate medical teams. You know, the NFL got criticized for not canceling fast enough, but the NFL saved his life. First responders on the scene in minutes. The Buffalo Bill's team Cincinnati amazing support. So this is you know, the NFL. It's easy to criticize big and powerful, right, but in the end, their ability to immediately understand the urgency of the moment, get on the field CPR is part of what saved his life. And it now looks like he's turned according to the stories this morning, he's turned a corner. It's also awesome news. Yeah, the Bills are going to wear a number three patch on their Jersey this weekend against the Patriots. Boy, that Bill's practice today is going to be an exciting one. Huh, coming off facetiming Hamlin and getting excited. Hey, he's our guys, Okay, I know that's I actually thought that. I thought. Is Buffalo gonna play incredibly emotional inspired football against scene. It's the stadium gonna be Oh my lord, it's gonna be incredible exciting. All right. Next up, the Cowboys still have a chance to win the NFC East and climb up to the top seed in the NFC. They'll need a little bit of help to get there. Obviously, they would need the Giants reserves to shock the Eagles. That ain't happening. That being said, Dak Prescott says he's only focusing on what he can control, which is winning against Sam Howell in Washington on Sunday. We've got to win. That. The focus versus first and foremost is win. Uh, play well, yes, and build momentum, and if we win the division title, that's that's not necessarily up thoughts at this point. We've just got to go win and take care of our business. Saw a probability chart that said the Dallas is ninety one percent locked in visit Tampa. So wild card weekend, So would you rest starters? I think you want to keep the continuity going, probably a couple of series, maybe a quarter. Yeah, that's that's how I feel. You attack this weekend, is you go through everything you would normal week. But I don't want Tony Pollard going into a playoff game. Yeah, so I'm gonna play to last week, by the way, against the type. Yeah, I mean, but I want him in practice this week, and I want him to have a couple of carries, but I'm not playing. I'm not giving him the ball fifteen times. Offensive line has had some injuries. I would definitely bolster the backup. So they're getting there early. And Michael Parsons, nothing can happen to that guy. You meet him at full strength next week. By the way, I'm just curious Cowboys Tampa. You want to guess the line on that? What do you think it would be in Tampa? By the way, Dallas favored by three. I think that's about right. Yeah, is that it? Well, I haven't seen one yet because it's not locked in, but that came is that's gonna be probably the Well, we'll see if the Chargers have to play the Bengals, that might be the best wild card game. Chargers Beals, Aaron Rodgers Niners next weekend. Why can't wait? Yes, yes, yes, all right? Final story. Pro Football Hall of Fame announced fifteen finalists for the class of twenty twenty three, highlighted by three players with their first year of eligibility. Dwight Freeney he's a Hall of Famer, yep. Durell Revis he's a Hall of Famer, okay. And Joe Thomas, Oh, he's absolutely. Two of the three have been on this show. Yeah. Let me let me look at the list right now, Jared, I want to make any enemies. Freeney is obviously, Thomas has obviously, Durell Revus has obviously, boy Andre Johnson, Devin Hester has to get in. I mean he's one of the He has like a ton of return records. People were avoiding punting to him back in this Jack Thomas feels like a Hall of Famer, but he's is he the former Dolphin, Yeah, the Dolphins linebacker. He's very good player. Andre Johnson and his prime was excellent. I mean, all these guys out, Patrick Willis, Patrick Willis though, how long do you play at an old miss number eleven pick niners? Boy, he was a he was a wrecking ball. Darren Woodson didn't Super Bowl, didn't even pick six back in the day. I mean, to me, the obvious ones, Joe Thomas, Rivas, Freenie or Hall of Famers. To me that that I mean Freenie was a top three pass rusher for ten years. Yeah, I always felt like it's the ten year rule, like I never understood and maybe revisionist history. Jim Rice the baseball player. So when I was growing up high school, college, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice were the Red Sox. But Rice, to me, Reggie Jackson was the home run king in the American League on the left side A's Yankees, Jim Rice on the right side. And apparently Jim Rice didn't get along with the media great and for years and years, like Jim Rice didn't get into the Hall of Fame. Like to me, if you are anything great for ten years a decade of Steve Garvey was the best fielding first baseman for a deck. He was a great clutch hitter. I think he got like playoff MVPs. Steve Garvey's not and Jim Rice. There's this pushback. I'm like Steve Garvey for ten to twelve years was the best fielding and a power hitting first baseman corner infielder. Jim Rice was a monster, not just because of Fenway. So the Hall of Fames are weird to me. I always go football. Maybe it's an eight year rule because of the violence, but in like ten years of dominance at something, if you're top two or three in something, you feel like a Hall of Famer. But you made a good point there. The media has a big say in this stuff. If you play well with the media, they like you. Colin. There's a lot of people that should be writing about this show. But we don't necessarily play well with the media. Even though the numbers are great, do we have people have about some of that stuff. Well, let's not talk about how sweet. Okay, fine, let's talk about the NFL. I'm guarantee you some of those guys did not play well with the media. Well we're gonna get shafted. Yeah, but it comes out. I mean to me, here's the other thing about Hall of Fames. If you have to think about it, you're probably not okay. The quintess Joe Thomas, Dwight Freeny, Darrell Rivas. If you if you don't think they're Hall of Famer, you just don't watch full with best at their position for a top two at their position for a decade. Okay, so this is where it gets complicated. He's not on the list, but he's gonna be coming up here in a few years. Eli Manning was never ever a top quarterback in the NFL. Okay, but he can agree on that. I don't even know if he's a five. Okay, you're right, But here's my argument. Yeah, can you tell the story of the NFL without Eli Manning? Hell no. He beat Brady and Belichick on two of the greatest throws in league history in crisis, the David Tyree and Mario Manningham throw. Now Tyree maybe luck, but it is what it is. The Manningham throw goes down is arguably big band of Santonio Holmes was a great all time thro the city. Okay, Manningham, Eli Manning. It had to be fit into a breadbox. It is one of the great throws in the history of Super Bowls. I don't know, but I understand the pushback, So we would agree he's a Hall of Fame. Oh, I think Eli is to you can't be Brady and Belichick and as an underdog twice and one of them, the Patriots were undefeated, one of the greatest teams ever and it was your throw in both games that changed it. Yeah, that's absolutely a Hall of fameer. I agree. J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news and thanks for stopping by. So Patrick Willis played by staff says eight years. He feels like not, I have to think about it, So he does it. If he played eleven, I may go for it, but I had to ask on Patrick Willis. So he ends up being super talented, very good. Not a Hall of famer to me. Ray Lewis, you say, ray Lewis hall of fame automatic lock, Patrick Willis, Yeah, really really good. Maybe probably right one of those. I mean, how many guys do we have playing right now? Think about this that are Hall of famers. So let me think about Miles Garrett, Aaron Donald backer position has been diminished considerable. It doesn't matter versus it's Miles Garrett hall of famer. He's on the track. TJA on the track, certainly. Yeah, I mean, oh, J J. Watt probably gets in. Oh yeah, okay, Aaron Donald gets in. Yes, um, Aaron Rodgers gets in, Brady gets in. All right, Let's give a guy you want to trade Jalen Ramsey of the Rams. He basically led Jacksonville to the AFC Championship. No, I'm with you. I don't think he's there. He's no. Revus Mahomes Nick Wright had him in by his second year. Come ons lock, Yeah, well he's got he's got he gotta give me one more. How many years he played? Six? Come on? Now? What does he have? MVP super Bowl, MVP the come on, he's a lock? Yeah? Okay, well he's played like an hour you guys get you guys retired tomorrow he's in the Hall of Fame probably yeah yeah, I mean I wouldn't push back, so yes, yes, um we got we got Somes a medium guy that well, let's not let's not mention medium guys. Matt Ryan Ryan, there's not pick on positively, it's my birthday. Let's be positive today. How many times you gonna wedg in? It's your birthday? So let's talk about the guys that absolutely get in. Uh, you know, Gronk will get in so let's right now, just just Travis Kelsey. Oh, absolutely, Travis Kelsey's absolutely Russell Wilson. I'm not going to get into that. What do you mean You're not gonna get into it. He has a super Bowl ring. It's very easy. If he turns around Denver in the next two years and gives me good seasons, he's in. Oh who had a better career, Russell Wilson so far or Eli Manning. It's a very good it's very good point. I think Russell Wilson has to get in. Okay, if I'm fine with it. I like Russell, which is two super Bowls. Should have won too. I should have won, but his interception cost him another that when you get close, that kind of stuff matters. We both think he's gonna rebound next year. Okay, here's one, here's one Joe Flacco. No, he did win a Super Bowl, so did Come on? Brad Johnson won a Super Bowl better John Well? Yes, But I mean it's like I was at one point the highest paid quarterback in the NFL. Who cares. I'm just saying he's gonna be got paid a lot and had a good You don't think he's gonna be a candidate for all those playoff runs with the I like Joe Flacer. I don't think he's a Hall of Famer. No, you don't think there's a discussion maybe at Joe Flacco's house. No, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine a Empacific. Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller, with mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking one in God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's a spin off of that Ben Maller show could hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture if you will a world will we chat with captains of industry in media, sports and more every week Explorer some amazing facts about a human nature and more. Let'sten to the Fifth Hour with Ben Maller on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. It's Friday Blazing five. Top of Next Hour Hall of Fame finalists. Dwight Freeney's one of them, sixteen years, seven Pro Bowls, fourth most forced fumbles, top twenty in sacks to me, Joe Thomas Darrell Rivas, Dwight Freeny of the Automatic Hall of Famers on that list of dudes. And by the way, he just look at Dwight Freeny. Dwight Frenny chased down skinny quarterbacks like me is that is a frightening experience. I gotta say, in a serious note, very good news this morning on Damar Hamlin. He's turned a corner. He's now communicating. I cannot imagine the emotional lift to the Buffalo Bills and how wonderful they feel. You know, you were a guy that inflicted hits, right, was there ever a moment that you felt the way you felt watching Monday in your career that you got a little you step back and got kind of emotional on what you were seeing. I was thinking about that, and no, to be quite honest with you, you know, we play this game. We understand that this is a violent game, controlled violence, right things hopping all right things top guys have knees achilles, and once in a blue moon you might have a spinal situation where guys paralyzed or something like that. Um and which is scary, you know, which you know you never want to see. But what happened a couple of nights ago. You know that that was something else. I mean, you you see him get up and you think he's okay, and then all of a sudden, it's like he's gone, and you never want to see that. The immediate thought is just kind of like, you know, I hope he obviously, I hope he's okay and he can make it through. But when you start to perform CPR and ambulances, it will blow your mind. There was no chance that game could continue. And just the thought of what his family was thinking, his mother in the stance, all of that is just something that you never want to see. And I'm so happy that he's turning a corner and hopefully he's winning this battle of life right now. You know, it's interest I watch the jet said, you know, if Zach Wilson could have just sat for a year, it would have worked. And my takeaway is, guys got it or they don't. You could sit in for three years. I always felt he was small on discipline, not that accurate. I didn't see it in college. So in all your years now you had Bill Polly in a Hall of Famer as a GM. But Bill told me before he missed on a couple of picks. It happens. Yet, some kids get to camp and you can tell dwighte in fifteen minutes they don't want to hit, they don't want to play pro football. How long did it take you go back to your all your years just the eleven and Indie, did you know pretty much instantly first camp, the kid's gonna make it or the kid isn't. Well, you know, I think you have that instinct about you when you see a guy and you see you know he has something special, all right, So you look at it and say, okay, you know he has a little something to him, all right. Now that might be a little explosion, a little fight, whatever that is. You see it. Now, you don't know how long they're going to make it, because you know this is a violent game, as we discussed, and you know he can get hurt or what have you. But for the most part, for the positions that we're talking about, what I clearly see is more of like the position situations when when you're playing a linebacker, you're playing receiver, or you've seen you running back, it's easier to tell whether a guy as it or he does it from a quarterback position is a little bit different. Yeah, no, it is. You're asking him cognitively to do things. You're often asking a guy who's not huge to take hits and punishment. They often go to bad teams, very very few mahomes where you get Andy Reid and Travis Kelsey. That's not the way it generally works. So your cults have right now their first pick. They're in line for the fifth overall pick. It's a proud franchise. They've got a lot of good players. They just can't get quarterback. Right. You've watched some college football college kids, is your gut feeling they go quarterback college or quarterback in the pro market. Wherever they go, they better go quarterback. All you gotta get that, you know, kind of hemmed up, all right, And I know we've been down the road of you know, getting the older guys, but those of other guys are only gonna last a year or two. You know, Philip Rivers, he's going to be a year or two, you know, and and and you just you can't just you know, build for the future. You know, he got Maddie Ryan, He's a year or two. You got to get somebody who's young that you can build within your system, all right, and get this thing going. Now, it doesn't matter who you got back there. If you don't have an offensive line of blackfall, they're all the same, God, they are all the same. But if we got to get a young guy so I don't know, or somebody who at least has five or six years left to play. You're a humble guy. But if I said to you make a case, what would now? Obviously you made a bunch of Pro Bowls, You forced a lot of fumbles, you're taught. I think you're a seventeenth or eighteenth all time in sacks. But well, I always make the argument, if I have to think about it, somebody's not a Hall of Famer you, Joe Thomas, Durrell Reevas. I don't have to think about it. What do you think you added that was unique in your opinion? Well, obviously this is not up to me, and you know, the voters vote, and I've done everything I could. But I will say this, I think I left my mark on the game regardless of what has happened. You know, I think whenever you see a spin move out there, and guy's using the spin move, yeah, prior to me, they weren't using that move. You were actually taught not to turn your back to the quarterback. That's what you were taught, you know. And I think guys used to spend from time to time, but it wasn't as frequently and as planned as it was for me. You know. So whenever you see that, you know, all right, were down that tree. Whether he learned it from Vaughan, who Vaughan learned from me or whatever, I think, you know, that's something that I know I left my mark on the game. You know, when you see a guy that's undersized quote unquote being drafted high, most guys like me weren't wasn't drafted high. We were drafted in the second third round because we were tweeners and you had to be a six five, two hundred and seventy five two hundred and eighty pound defensive end to be drafted in the top fifteen or what have you. So I think I kind of broke the mold there. And there's some also some protection things that you know, you know, yeah, you put a running back in the backfield and your chip on the way out, well that happened for a century. But when you start seeing tight ends outside off the ball, motioning receivers coming the chip. That stuff was implemented because of like me and Robert Mathis and how we got off the ball. There had a lot of situations the coach would be like, Dwight, we've never seen this protection before. Yeah, so you're just gonna have to deal with it. Yeah. No, you had great influence. I've always said that about Steph Curry literally changed high school college in pro basketball shots that you got benched for when I was in high school. He literally now he eliminated the back to the basket center. Even Jordan didn't do that. So you had influence from pass rushing situations. It is why when I think of you, it's an old brainer. One of the good guys. Dwight Frenny. You look fantastic. I cannot imagine you chasing quarterbacks around. You look great. Congrats on your successful man, Thank you for having me. Take care all right, Dwight Freeney. He really did have influence when you change blocking schemes. And there's just I mean, like obviously Mariano Rivera was great. He was a one pitch pitcher. I mean literally he if you think about baseball and pitching coaches that it was you could never make the majors like a one pitch pitcher. Even even Nolan Ryan had off speed stuff Marion through one pitch, and it was understood that it changed the way you thought. It's like, you don't need an arsenal if you're if you are a great closer, what is your out pitch? I mean, I always think of Mariano One, the splitter. He had one pitch and was the greatest closer of all time. When it changes you're thinking how you do things. That to me, is that that's the influence. Steph Curry has more influence than Lebron and Michael More influenced not just titles. He literally changed college basketball. He changed high school bad he changed au basketball. Like now it's understood if you don't you can't be on the floor unless you're really like a great rebounder or like Draymond Green's the best defensive player in the league for like ten years, and even he'll take an occasional three. But if you can't shoot at three, you're not on the floor. You have to be Draymond Green. Otherwise it's like, oh, it's a liability now he's a catalyst for their offense. He's such a unique player. But it's a cutter, my bad not a splitter, a cutter very anyway. Kind of rambling, blazing five tough week. A lot of a lot of people, sharps who do this for a living, take this week off. I'm told, yeah, there's nothing wrong with saving your powder for the first round of the playoffs. You know where my powder's going? All over the set? I am, I got five picks. I'm fifty four and a half percent of the year. We're gonna get the fifty five. I just gotta go three and two, my blazing five hour two Friday Night,

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. Oh, it's a Friday, A glorious Friday, live in Los Angeles. It's The Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening or watching. We're on iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio FS one. My final regular season, Blazing five. I'm fifty four and a half percent this year. I want to get to fifty five. It is a tough week. I love my picks. Dogs are barking. J Mac joins, that's one hour from now. J Mack is joining me today. I've got a couple of theories I'm gonna throw out there. You and I both love kind of the theory. Balloon we float an idea. You were all over the Notre Dame just got a star quarterback in the transfer portal. You cloated that two three weeks ago. You were right on the money. You do a good job on that stuff. You know, I injured myself yesterday patting myself on the back for hitting that Tom Brady and Vegas seems like a lock at this point. You know, listen, if you hit Aaron Rodgers and the Tennessee Titans, just give me the powerball numbers, okay, later this spring. So I want to start with this, um. So, Aaron Rodgers talked retirement again yesterday said I don't know if I'm gonna play. My future is uncertain. So he told the whisk, Wisconsin State Journal that Aaron Rodgers says, my future is uncertain. So Aaron's always been one of the headier quarterbacks. He's playing chest, not checkers here, right. It's pretty smart guy. You don't have to agree with his vaccine stance or what he says to you know, Joe Rogan or whatever, but he's he's a thinking man. Okay. So I just want you to think about that as I as I go into this. So Farven Aaron Rodgers are not the same person, but they're becoming the same Green Bay quarterback. You've seen those commercials, those Progressive insurance commercials where you know, you start becoming your parents. They're actually very very funny. Aaron's becoming far of whether he wants to be it or not. He's getting kind of rigid. He doesn't want to change certain things. Farv got very rigid. I don't want to learn a new offense. Aaron's like I want Randall Cobb and my seventy year old quarterback coach. They're becoming the same guy. And I've always called this the Green Bay Packer quarterback syndrome. It's the only franchise with no owner, so there's nobody to rain you in. You are the most powerful person in the organization. No matter how big Troy Aikman was, Jerry Jones was bigger. No matter how big Jimmy Johnson was. Jerry Jones was bigger. No matter how big Belichicker Brady are. Robert Kraft's bigger in Green Bay. Duck quarterback runs the franchise. The second thing is it's the smallest city in the country with a pro sports franchise, so you get kind of a fawning media not going to ridicule you much. Everybody sees everybody at the grocery store. You could bump into Aaron, so you're not going to get that It's a very unique and the difference is far of at least had Aaron Rodgers behind him pushing him. Aaron's got Jordan Love, and we don't know if Jordan Love can play. My guest is today can play, he can start, but nobody really knows. So it gives Aaron even more power. So I do believe this weekend that if Aaron and the Packers lost and don't make the playoffs, or they get in and then get eliminated quickly, I do believe they will strongly consider getting a first round picker two for Aaron Rodgers and rolling the dice with Jordan Love. They moved up to get him. It looks like a total blown pick if you don't play him, and gms like to play their picks, especially the first round picks. They moved up, and it does look like Jordan Love has gotten significantly better in the last year. That's what people say, That's what the film says, That's what we saw. So Aaron gets beat this weekends it there and think, what's the point we can do that with Jordan Love. We're still the best for an organization in this division. What's the point? Now? Some of you say, oh, dead cap hit. It doesn't matter. For a couple of years. You would have a big dead cat hit. But you're not paying Jordan Love anything. And this is a very complete roster. They could probably use an edge rusher, one more receiver. They went heavy into the old line last year. This roster doesn't have a lot of needs. It really doesn't. Maybe another edge rusher, maybe another receiver. That's about it. It's a good roster. It's playing very well right now. I'll throw this at you. Aaron's smart. Aaron's calculated his whole vaccine thing. He's calculated, and ask yourself this. He's gonna be thirty nine years old and he's expensive. If Aaron keeps mentioning, I don't know if I'm gonna play m The team that gets him doesn't have to give up many picks. What's green baking? Because Aaron's not going to go play for a crappy team. He'll just retire. Tennessee's the team I've put out there, so Mike Frabel goes. Hey, it gives Mike Frabel leverage. The guy talks retiring every fifteen minutes. He's thirty nine years old. He's doing aahwaskin in the offseason. I'm not giving you three first round picks. I'll give you a one and a two. I think I think, specially off the Russell Wilson disaster deal a first In a second, Aaron understands wherever he goes, he doesn't want to gut the team's draft capital. Right he wants to go to Tennessee. He wants them to have enough picks to get him another receiver. The Burkes kid, Trey Burkes. They like a lot, but they need another receiver. You don't want to have to give up multiple couple of first, couple of second That's what hurts Denver's job right now. Man, they got no picks next year. Is Aaron thinking, you know, I can talk privately with Mike Vrabel. I'm not saying Aaron's done this, but it would be really, really shrewd that you throw it out there. He's thirty nine, he's super expensive, and he talks retirement. You're not gonna have to give up nearly as much as you would if he was thirty six, says Plan until he's forty six years old. If Aaron's three years younger, and it's like, I'm never retirement, I'm wanna break Brady's record, You're gonna have to give up four first and two seconds and a third. Aaron this week talked once again about his future. Yeah, I mean for sure, just because you don't know what the future holds. But when I think about that, it's nothing but gratitude, not remorse or sadness, just gratitude for the time that I've been here, the amazing memories that I've had on this field, but a lot of great moments. But you know, I'm still undecided. We're all incided about the futures, and we're just gonna enjoy Sunday night and hopefully have some more to play for Nabulous. Nobody knows what he's doing. Aaron's Smart Titans could give up last. You think Mike Rabel thinks today he's gonna win the AFC Burrow Alan moms Herbert, but Tannehill gotta have a gunslinger, gotta have an all timer. Aaron's gonna be the one all timer on the market, potentially. All right, let's shift gears to this the toothless NCAA. Jim Harbaugh's under investigation. There was some recruiting thing during the COVID period blah blah blah. NCAA's board, they'll make him sit out of practice. Who cares Michigan's rolling. You know, it's interesting about the Harbaugh situation. He can go college r pro. So both professions, college football coaches and NFL coaches are having to deal with something that makes them uncomfortable. Let's start with college transfer portal. Players can leave almost at any time once the season's over. You got to pay them now. If they're stars, there's bidding wars. A lot of guys don't like that should be noted. The reason Brian Kelly at LSU and Lincoln Riley at USC can get to ten and eleven wins respectively in one year. Transfer portal go solve your weaknesses. So it's a good thing for the smart coaches who can recruit. It's a great thing for Brian Kelly, it's a great thing for Lincoln Riley. The old school whiners. I get over yourself. You can get It's like, you know, you get more recruits, except guys are actually playing in college football, so you have fewer whiffs, fewer busts. So some coaches are uncomfortable with that. Maybe hard by as I doubt it NFL coaches because of the global wealth we have seen explode with tech over the last ten to fifteen years. Owners are now all billionaires, all rich, and they consider forty million dollars a rounding air. You gotta win, you gotta win fast. I saw a story yesterday McDaniel, Miami Dolphins coach could get fired fired. I thought he was a success. It's insane. But billionaires are insane because they've never been richer. So I am rooting for Harball to stay in college because I do believe, having grown up in Seattle or near Seattle, that northern programs Oregon, Washington, Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State need great coaches to compete for a national title or compete for a playoff. In the South, you could hire the wrong coach. There's so many dynamic, robust high school football stars and programs. Ed Orgeron's considered a miss and you want a national title. You could never do that in a northern program. There's not as many kids up there. You're constantly convincing kids to come up north and play in lousy weather. So Harbab matters to Michigan when he got there, Michael Jordan's brand basically signed Michigan football to a huge deal. Why because he's Jim Harball. He's great for Michigan. Michigan's great for Jim. The other thing is, and I believe this to be true, think about stuff like this all the time. Stay in a job that allows you to be the best version of yourself. So you have to have some self examination. What are your weaknesses as a human being? You're driving around listening to me, What are you really good at? And what are you not good at? If you make most of your life decisions. I live by this. I think about it all the time, doing things that are the best version of me. I have things I don't do well, things I do pretty well. I think Harbaugh's actually better for college. Why Because he gets the Michigan brand. He can dominate the Big Ten mostly, he can clearly recruit. He gets to control the personnel. He doesn't have a power hungry general manager or a petulant quarterback making fifty million a year. He didn't have a salary cap to deal with, or is zany billionaire owner who gets in a bad mood because they had you know, one of his companies goes belly up, and now he wants to tell Harba how to run his team. Stand jobs, seek jobs, maintain jobs that are the best version of you. And I think Harbaugh no crazy billionaire owner, no power hungry GM. He can control virtually every part of the program. And he's a smart guy that makes lots of good decisions. He can change in a dime coordinators, he can change in a dime philosophy. He doesn't have to get it okay with a GM. He didn't have to get it okay with the owner. He doesn't have to talk to the business ops guy. I want to change my coordinator. I want to change how we play. He can do it at the college level. I hope he stays. The NCAA thing doesn't mean squat. We'll keep you posted, all right, Blazing five Final, Blazing five regular season, Well, we'll see a we do it in the playoffs. I don't know fifty four percent. I feel pretty good, feel pretty good. Let's do it in the playoffs. You can add some prop bets, first halves, totals come, we'll dig into the gambling. The audience loves it. You know that, I know people like well you like to do that be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app. Oh, it is great to be here today. It is a Friday Blazing five, our last one. Potentially, if I have a good week, maybe I'll keep going. Dwight Freeney, seven time Pro bowler, is going to be joining this this hour. So Zach Wilson Jets, Jets Dolphins are playing second third string quarterbacks. No entry, it had it. Really, if if Zach Wilson would have worked out and two was healthy, it would be a great last game. It's gonna be a dud. Stay away, don't bet it. It's a total dud. I think it's gonna be Joe Flacco against Skyler Thompson. I think the third string quarterback. Yeah, I'm not, it's not. That's not even a corner television game. As my friend Chad Milman says, that is the next room game. That's not I'm not even gonna listen to the audio of that game. But the Jets we're talking about. Zach Wilson, the quarterback got a BYU number two pick. I didn't like it. Nothing against the kid. I thought it was going to be a major whiff. It has been. Now they're saying, you know, we should have brought him in and let him sit for a while. In hindsight, it probably would have benefited, you know, just to sit back and learn a little bit uh and uh and watch a veteran and do it and just kind of grow, um, you know, in this league, kind of in the back seat, watching in getting better in practice and getting better in um through scout team and all that. But again, that wasn't the course that we went. I think he could sit for six years. He's not a starting quarterback in the NFL. You could see it very early. Herbert Burrow were forced into activity with bad offensive lines. You knew immediately, Kyler Murray forced into activity. Rookie head coach who just got fired in college bad offensive line. Yeah, got it, you got it. He doesn't. I don't mean to make it personal, but if it was about sitting, why didn't he get better year one to year two. He's small, he's undisciplined, he plays hero ball, he's got bad mechanics, he's not great at the podium. Maybe the nicest guy in the world, but Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson sat, but they sat with you, like John Harbon, Andy Reid and a veteran coach and a stable organization and good ownership. The Jets are the Jets. They don't make anything easy. And I think there's a lesson to be learned with Zach Wilson. And I know that people in the NFL watch because he get text all the time, even on my birthday. Here's the lesson to be learned. I get all the time. People will send me stuff fans and I'm like, oh, that's I never picked up on that. You can learn a lesson from anybody, even me. Be careful how much you ask of a young quarterback. He had to go from conservative Provo to New York City, the biggest, loudest media in America. He had to go from BYU schedule to Belichick twice a year. And Sean McDermott, rookie head coach play caller, was not a ton of experience, a shaky offensive line. You were asking this kid, it was like the hurdles, one after another after another after another. Even if he was Mahones, this could be choppy and turbulent. I mean, at least when Justin Herbert got to the Chargers. He didn't have the right coach and the old line was bad, but he had like Mike Williams and Keenan Allen, and he had, you know, some playmakers on defense. I mean, you know, it was choppy, but there were things. He went to a big program. He went to a sleepy NFL team, the Chargers. That wasn't that big of an ass. He had a lot of years starting. He was a big, strong kid. The old line was choppy, and the coach wasn't ideal Joe Burrow. The offensive line was bad, but he had a couple of nice receivers, he had an offensive coach. They had, They spent a lot of money on free agency. He didn't have to win by shootout, but I mean, Zach Wilson, they just kept asking things. Pro vote in New York City BYU schedule to Belichick and Sean McDermott and at the time Brian Flores. I think it was like three defensive coordinators, three of the best, like three great defensive minds, pass rushes, and then it's you know, a rookie head coach. I think Robert Saul is probably gonna make it. But you don't know a defensive coach in New York, a play caller without a ton of play calling experience. Bad old line, And let's be honest about it, it's the Jets. I think this marks the twelfth straight year they haven't made the playoffs. So people fell in love with his pro Day. There's something else we can learn. I went back and looked. I remember when I heard about Zach Wilson. I watched him play Washington years ago. He had a couple of decent throws. Talented. You know, there's some arm talent, obviously, but when you watch a guy in college, there's gotta be some WHOA CJ. Stroud against Georgia. Whoa he can run and throw Bryce Young? Whoa that gets rid of that puppy fast? Will Levis? Arm strength? Size? Whoa Herbert? There's gotta be Josh Allen was wild and crazy, six six two fifty, jumping over people, arm strength. The wow for Zach Wilson wasn't on YouTube. It was it his pro day in shorts. Can we can we scale back on the importance of Pro Day. It's the opposite of real football. There's no real thinking. You don't wear pads. There's no pass rush, So if you're a small guy, you don't really know what it's like looking over six seven left tackles and right tackles. But I think the big learning experience here is when you draft a college quarterback and you're asking him to overcome five or six things. Big Ben played at Miami of Ohio. But he got a great defense, he got a great ownership, he got a great coach, he got good run support. He had a veteran receiving corps. You weren't asking Big Ben anything other than come in here, don't crash the Mercedes right. So it's a really good car. We need you to make about four or five big throws a game. If you look at Mahomes, he sat for a while. He had a receiver yet Andy Reid, he had stability. They had to rebuild that defense, but it was like Oline was pretty good. The receiving corps. You can't ask these guys to do six and seven things out of college. Now, occasionally you'll get a Trevor Lawrence, but even he struggled last year. They asked him to overcome too much. Now this year they got him more help and free agency. They got him an NFL coach. Shocking right now, Justin Fields, I like him. You're asking him to overcome too much Bears online stinks, Receiving corpse stinks. They could use another tight end defensive coach, new offensive coordinate. You're asking Justin Fields to overcome too many hurdles. That's the lesson here. I don't mind if a guy plays immediately or sits, but this BYU experiment, provo experiment, that schedule experiment. Rookie coach, Jets shaky old line bound to fail. J Mack with the news. No, no, this is the herd line news. I wonder if I'm the only one who detects a lot of disdain when you say Jets. You know, you say it in a manner that's so negative. But hey, I get it. We stink, Am I am I being negative on a little bit. But we got some good news right out of the gate here. Colin Damar Hamlin's recovery amazing. Really amazing is the perfect word. The breathing tube has been removed, the bills announced, and Hamlin is speaking to his family members and care team. He was also able to FaceTime his teammates and coaches and he told them, love you boys. This is just great news on a Friday, outstanding. Think about how sad the news was Monday night and how uplifting it is today. We talked about this all the time. One of the great virtues in this entire process has been his youth. These guys, these pro athletes, are in such great shape. They recover. You know, if he is twenty five years old or not in shape and this kind of accident happens, but he's young, he's in great shape. You had immediate medical teams. You know, the NFL got criticized for not canceling fast enough, but the NFL saved his life. First responders on the scene in minutes. The Buffalo Bill's team Cincinnati amazing support. So this is you know, the NFL. It's easy to criticize big and powerful, right, but in the end, their ability to immediately understand the urgency of the moment, get on the field CPR is part of what saved his life. And it now looks like he's turned according to the stories this morning, he's turned a corner. It's also awesome news. Yeah, the Bills are going to wear a number three patch on their Jersey this weekend against the Patriots. Boy, that Bill's practice today is going to be an exciting one. Huh, coming off facetiming Hamlin and getting excited. Hey, he's our guys, Okay, I know that's I actually thought that. I thought. Is Buffalo gonna play incredibly emotional inspired football against scene. It's the stadium gonna be Oh my lord, it's gonna be incredible exciting. All right. Next up, the Cowboys still have a chance to win the NFC East and climb up to the top seed in the NFC. They'll need a little bit of help to get there. Obviously, they would need the Giants reserves to shock the Eagles. That ain't happening. That being said, Dak Prescott says he's only focusing on what he can control, which is winning against Sam Howell in Washington on Sunday. We've got to win. That. The focus versus first and foremost is win. Uh, play well, yes, and build momentum, and if we win the division title, that's that's not necessarily up thoughts at this point. We've just got to go win and take care of our business. Saw a probability chart that said the Dallas is ninety one percent locked in visit Tampa. So wild card weekend, So would you rest starters? I think you want to keep the continuity going, probably a couple of series, maybe a quarter. Yeah, that's that's how I feel. You attack this weekend, is you go through everything you would normal week. But I don't want Tony Pollard going into a playoff game. Yeah, so I'm gonna play to last week, by the way, against the type. Yeah, I mean, but I want him in practice this week, and I want him to have a couple of carries, but I'm not playing. I'm not giving him the ball fifteen times. Offensive line has had some injuries. I would definitely bolster the backup. So they're getting there early. And Michael Parsons, nothing can happen to that guy. You meet him at full strength next week. By the way, I'm just curious Cowboys Tampa. You want to guess the line on that? What do you think it would be in Tampa? By the way, Dallas favored by three. I think that's about right. Yeah, is that it? Well, I haven't seen one yet because it's not locked in, but that came is that's gonna be probably the Well, we'll see if the Chargers have to play the Bengals, that might be the best wild card game. Chargers Beals, Aaron Rodgers Niners next weekend. Why can't wait? Yes, yes, yes, all right? Final story. Pro Football Hall of Fame announced fifteen finalists for the class of twenty twenty three, highlighted by three players with their first year of eligibility. Dwight Freeney he's a Hall of Famer, yep. Durell Revis he's a Hall of Famer, okay. And Joe Thomas, Oh, he's absolutely. Two of the three have been on this show. Yeah. Let me let me look at the list right now, Jared, I want to make any enemies. Freeney is obviously, Thomas has obviously, Durell Revus has obviously, boy Andre Johnson, Devin Hester has to get in. I mean he's one of the He has like a ton of return records. People were avoiding punting to him back in this Jack Thomas feels like a Hall of Famer, but he's is he the former Dolphin, Yeah, the Dolphins linebacker. He's very good player. Andre Johnson and his prime was excellent. I mean, all these guys out, Patrick Willis, Patrick Willis though, how long do you play at an old miss number eleven pick niners? Boy, he was a he was a wrecking ball. Darren Woodson didn't Super Bowl, didn't even pick six back in the day. I mean, to me, the obvious ones, Joe Thomas, Rivas, Freenie or Hall of Famers. To me that that I mean Freenie was a top three pass rusher for ten years. Yeah, I always felt like it's the ten year rule, like I never understood and maybe revisionist history. Jim Rice the baseball player. So when I was growing up high school, college, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice were the Red Sox. But Rice, to me, Reggie Jackson was the home run king in the American League on the left side A's Yankees, Jim Rice on the right side. And apparently Jim Rice didn't get along with the media great and for years and years, like Jim Rice didn't get into the Hall of Fame. Like to me, if you are anything great for ten years a decade of Steve Garvey was the best fielding first baseman for a deck. He was a great clutch hitter. I think he got like playoff MVPs. Steve Garvey's not and Jim Rice. There's this pushback. I'm like Steve Garvey for ten to twelve years was the best fielding and a power hitting first baseman corner infielder. Jim Rice was a monster, not just because of Fenway. So the Hall of Fames are weird to me. I always go football. Maybe it's an eight year rule because of the violence, but in like ten years of dominance at something, if you're top two or three in something, you feel like a Hall of Famer. But you made a good point there. The media has a big say in this stuff. If you play well with the media, they like you. Colin. There's a lot of people that should be writing about this show. But we don't necessarily play well with the media. Even though the numbers are great, do we have people have about some of that stuff. Well, let's not talk about how sweet. Okay, fine, let's talk about the NFL. I'm guarantee you some of those guys did not play well with the media. Well we're gonna get shafted. Yeah, but it comes out. I mean to me, here's the other thing about Hall of Fames. If you have to think about it, you're probably not okay. The quintess Joe Thomas, Dwight Freeny, Darrell Rivas. If you if you don't think they're Hall of Famer, you just don't watch full with best at their position for a top two at their position for a decade. Okay, so this is where it gets complicated. He's not on the list, but he's gonna be coming up here in a few years. Eli Manning was never ever a top quarterback in the NFL. Okay, but he can agree on that. I don't even know if he's a five. Okay, you're right, But here's my argument. Yeah, can you tell the story of the NFL without Eli Manning? Hell no. He beat Brady and Belichick on two of the greatest throws in league history in crisis, the David Tyree and Mario Manningham throw. Now Tyree maybe luck, but it is what it is. The Manningham throw goes down is arguably big band of Santonio Holmes was a great all time thro the city. Okay, Manningham, Eli Manning. It had to be fit into a breadbox. It is one of the great throws in the history of Super Bowls. I don't know, but I understand the pushback, So we would agree he's a Hall of Fame. Oh, I think Eli is to you can't be Brady and Belichick and as an underdog twice and one of them, the Patriots were undefeated, one of the greatest teams ever and it was your throw in both games that changed it. Yeah, that's absolutely a Hall of fameer. I agree. J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news and thanks for stopping by. So Patrick Willis played by staff says eight years. He feels like not, I have to think about it, So he does it. If he played eleven, I may go for it, but I had to ask on Patrick Willis. So he ends up being super talented, very good. Not a Hall of famer to me. Ray Lewis, you say, ray Lewis hall of fame automatic lock, Patrick Willis, Yeah, really really good. Maybe probably right one of those. I mean, how many guys do we have playing right now? Think about this that are Hall of famers. So let me think about Miles Garrett, Aaron Donald backer position has been diminished considerable. It doesn't matter versus it's Miles Garrett hall of famer. He's on the track. TJA on the track, certainly. Yeah, I mean, oh, J J. Watt probably gets in. Oh yeah, okay, Aaron Donald gets in. Yes, um, Aaron Rodgers gets in, Brady gets in. All right, Let's give a guy you want to trade Jalen Ramsey of the Rams. He basically led Jacksonville to the AFC Championship. No, I'm with you. I don't think he's there. He's no. Revus Mahomes Nick Wright had him in by his second year. Come ons lock, Yeah, well he's got he's got he gotta give me one more. How many years he played? Six? Come on? Now? What does he have? MVP super Bowl, MVP the come on, he's a lock? Yeah? Okay, well he's played like an hour you guys get you guys retired tomorrow he's in the Hall of Fame probably yeah yeah, I mean I wouldn't push back, so yes, yes, um we got we got Somes a medium guy that well, let's not let's not mention medium guys. Matt Ryan Ryan, there's not pick on positively, it's my birthday. Let's be positive today. How many times you gonna wedg in? It's your birthday? So let's talk about the guys that absolutely get in. Uh, you know, Gronk will get in so let's right now, just just Travis Kelsey. Oh, absolutely, Travis Kelsey's absolutely Russell Wilson. I'm not going to get into that. What do you mean You're not gonna get into it. He has a super Bowl ring. It's very easy. If he turns around Denver in the next two years and gives me good seasons, he's in. Oh who had a better career, Russell Wilson so far or Eli Manning. It's a very good it's very good point. I think Russell Wilson has to get in. Okay, if I'm fine with it. I like Russell, which is two super Bowls. Should have won too. I should have won, but his interception cost him another that when you get close, that kind of stuff matters. We both think he's gonna rebound next year. Okay, here's one, here's one Joe Flacco. No, he did win a Super Bowl, so did Come on? Brad Johnson won a Super Bowl better John Well? Yes, But I mean it's like I was at one point the highest paid quarterback in the NFL. Who cares. I'm just saying he's gonna be got paid a lot and had a good You don't think he's gonna be a candidate for all those playoff runs with the I like Joe Flacer. I don't think he's a Hall of Famer. No, you don't think there's a discussion maybe at Joe Flacco's house. No, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine a Empacific. Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller, with mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking one in God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you it's a spin off of that Ben Maller show could hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture if you will a world will we chat with captains of industry in media, sports and more every week Explorer some amazing facts about a human nature and more. Let'sten to the Fifth Hour with Ben Maller on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. It's Friday Blazing five. Top of Next Hour Hall of Fame finalists. Dwight Freeney's one of them, sixteen years, seven Pro Bowls, fourth most forced fumbles, top twenty in sacks to me, Joe Thomas Darrell Rivas, Dwight Freeny of the Automatic Hall of Famers on that list of dudes. And by the way, he just look at Dwight Freeny. Dwight Frenny chased down skinny quarterbacks like me is that is a frightening experience. I gotta say, in a serious note, very good news this morning on Damar Hamlin. He's turned a corner. He's now communicating. I cannot imagine the emotional lift to the Buffalo Bills and how wonderful they feel. You know, you were a guy that inflicted hits, right, was there ever a moment that you felt the way you felt watching Monday in your career that you got a little you step back and got kind of emotional on what you were seeing. I was thinking about that, and no, to be quite honest with you, you know, we play this game. We understand that this is a violent game, controlled violence, right things hopping all right things top guys have knees achilles, and once in a blue moon you might have a spinal situation where guys paralyzed or something like that. Um and which is scary, you know, which you know you never want to see. But what happened a couple of nights ago. You know that that was something else. I mean, you you see him get up and you think he's okay, and then all of a sudden, it's like he's gone, and you never want to see that. The immediate thought is just kind of like, you know, I hope he obviously, I hope he's okay and he can make it through. But when you start to perform CPR and ambulances, it will blow your mind. There was no chance that game could continue. And just the thought of what his family was thinking, his mother in the stance, all of that is just something that you never want to see. And I'm so happy that he's turning a corner and hopefully he's winning this battle of life right now. You know, it's interest I watch the jet said, you know, if Zach Wilson could have just sat for a year, it would have worked. And my takeaway is, guys got it or they don't. You could sit in for three years. I always felt he was small on discipline, not that accurate. I didn't see it in college. So in all your years now you had Bill Polly in a Hall of Famer as a GM. But Bill told me before he missed on a couple of picks. It happens. Yet, some kids get to camp and you can tell dwighte in fifteen minutes they don't want to hit, they don't want to play pro football. How long did it take you go back to your all your years just the eleven and Indie, did you know pretty much instantly first camp, the kid's gonna make it or the kid isn't. Well, you know, I think you have that instinct about you when you see a guy and you see you know he has something special, all right, So you look at it and say, okay, you know he has a little something to him, all right. Now that might be a little explosion, a little fight, whatever that is. You see it. Now, you don't know how long they're going to make it, because you know this is a violent game, as we discussed, and you know he can get hurt or what have you. But for the most part, for the positions that we're talking about, what I clearly see is more of like the position situations when when you're playing a linebacker, you're playing receiver, or you've seen you running back, it's easier to tell whether a guy as it or he does it from a quarterback position is a little bit different. Yeah, no, it is. You're asking him cognitively to do things. You're often asking a guy who's not huge to take hits and punishment. They often go to bad teams, very very few mahomes where you get Andy Reid and Travis Kelsey. That's not the way it generally works. So your cults have right now their first pick. They're in line for the fifth overall pick. It's a proud franchise. They've got a lot of good players. They just can't get quarterback. Right. You've watched some college football college kids, is your gut feeling they go quarterback college or quarterback in the pro market. Wherever they go, they better go quarterback. All you gotta get that, you know, kind of hemmed up, all right, And I know we've been down the road of you know, getting the older guys, but those of other guys are only gonna last a year or two. You know, Philip Rivers, he's going to be a year or two, you know, and and and you just you can't just you know, build for the future. You know, he got Maddie Ryan, He's a year or two. You got to get somebody who's young that you can build within your system, all right, and get this thing going. Now, it doesn't matter who you got back there. If you don't have an offensive line of blackfall, they're all the same, God, they are all the same. But if we got to get a young guy so I don't know, or somebody who at least has five or six years left to play. You're a humble guy. But if I said to you make a case, what would now? Obviously you made a bunch of Pro Bowls, You forced a lot of fumbles, you're taught. I think you're a seventeenth or eighteenth all time in sacks. But well, I always make the argument, if I have to think about it, somebody's not a Hall of Famer you, Joe Thomas, Durrell Reevas. I don't have to think about it. What do you think you added that was unique in your opinion? Well, obviously this is not up to me, and you know, the voters vote, and I've done everything I could. But I will say this, I think I left my mark on the game regardless of what has happened. You know, I think whenever you see a spin move out there, and guy's using the spin move, yeah, prior to me, they weren't using that move. You were actually taught not to turn your back to the quarterback. That's what you were taught, you know. And I think guys used to spend from time to time, but it wasn't as frequently and as planned as it was for me. You know. So whenever you see that, you know, all right, were down that tree. Whether he learned it from Vaughan, who Vaughan learned from me or whatever, I think, you know, that's something that I know I left my mark on the game. You know, when you see a guy that's undersized quote unquote being drafted high, most guys like me weren't wasn't drafted high. We were drafted in the second third round because we were tweeners and you had to be a six five, two hundred and seventy five two hundred and eighty pound defensive end to be drafted in the top fifteen or what have you. So I think I kind of broke the mold there. And there's some also some protection things that you know, you know, yeah, you put a running back in the backfield and your chip on the way out, well that happened for a century. But when you start seeing tight ends outside off the ball, motioning receivers coming the chip. That stuff was implemented because of like me and Robert Mathis and how we got off the ball. There had a lot of situations the coach would be like, Dwight, we've never seen this protection before. Yeah, so you're just gonna have to deal with it. Yeah. No, you had great influence. I've always said that about Steph Curry literally changed high school college in pro basketball shots that you got benched for when I was in high school. He literally now he eliminated the back to the basket center. Even Jordan didn't do that. So you had influence from pass rushing situations. It is why when I think of you, it's an old brainer. One of the good guys. Dwight Frenny. You look fantastic. I cannot imagine you chasing quarterbacks around. You look great. Congrats on your successful man, Thank you for having me. Take care all right, Dwight Freeney. He really did have influence when you change blocking schemes. And there's just I mean, like obviously Mariano Rivera was great. He was a one pitch pitcher. I mean literally he if you think about baseball and pitching coaches that it was you could never make the majors like a one pitch pitcher. Even even Nolan Ryan had off speed stuff Marion through one pitch, and it was understood that it changed the way you thought. It's like, you don't need an arsenal if you're if you are a great closer, what is your out pitch? I mean, I always think of Mariano One, the splitter. He had one pitch and was the greatest closer of all time. When it changes you're thinking how you do things. That to me, is that that's the influence. Steph Curry has more influence than Lebron and Michael More influenced not just titles. He literally changed college basketball. He changed high school bad he changed au basketball. Like now it's understood if you don't you can't be on the floor unless you're really like a great rebounder or like Draymond Green's the best defensive player in the league for like ten years, and even he'll take an occasional three. But if you can't shoot at three, you're not on the floor. You have to be Draymond Green. Otherwise it's like, oh, it's a liability now he's a catalyst for their offense. He's such a unique player. But it's a cutter, my bad not a splitter, a cutter very anyway. Kind of rambling, blazing five tough week. A lot of a lot of people, sharps who do this for a living, take this week off. I'm told, yeah, there's nothing wrong with saving your powder for the first round of the playoffs. You know where my powder's going? All over the set? I am, I got five picks. I'm fifty four and a half percent of the year. We're gonna get the fifty five. I just gotta go three and two, my blazing five hour two Friday Night,