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 our two live in LA. It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Good to have you in. It is a slow time of the year. College basketball's heating up. Tonight the Knicks take on the Celtics. So that's that's that feels like down the home stretch we come in the NBA. I think Boston's first or second best team in the league. Don't trust them against Golden State, although Draymond Green maybe having an MRI or worry about that boy. Golden State is small. They are if Cavon Louise is not on the floor and they have Green another forward Darrence Hiny. Are you still a believer that the Warriors are the best team in the last The Warriors are getting yes, but they're getting into a weird space. So if Draymond, when Steph comes back and Draymond they're starting five's great. They're very deep in the backcourt. They're not very big. We know they're starting five. Analytically per one hundred possessions is still the best in the league. But it's a fascinating what's happening to the Warriors because now Clay last year was hurt, Steff is now hurt. Now there's been some inflammation to a knee of Draymond Green. This thing's come into a close and so do you move off the pieces. It's very much Chicago Bulls. You can give it another run next year, but it feels like potentially this could be the last big run for the Warriors. I trust their coach, their culture. They're not as good a defensive team. Some of that could be Mike Brown, the coach left. They're not They're not big. I mean, if Cavon Luney got hurt game over, they're just too tiny. But I trust a lot of elements of it, which is smart, brainpower, spacing, shooting veterans. You know, Wiggins has been gone for a family reason, Steph is hurt, They're just they're all they're doing is just taping this thing together. They'll get into the playoffs. But my get you see, good baseball teams do this where they like rest starters a Houston all of a sudden, you know, we're gonna put the guy in a fifteen day you know, the i R all of a sudden, September rolls around and the guy is rested and ready to go. A Verlander or one of those hot high end guys. Yeah, quick word on my Knicks. So since they got Josh Hart, blue guy, he's similar to the guy the Lakers just picked up who's everywhere defensively scrambling loose balls. All right, Josh Hart five and zero Nicks. That's a big game for them. Is a team tonight. It'll be a great watch and Nick Celtics should be good. Yeah, where are you on? Julius Randall? Like him? So he's that a better career with the Knicks than Carmelo antha Thank you, thank you. It's just a fact, I'm sorry, better defender, better rebounder, higher field goal percentage, better teams. The numbers don't lie. Yeah, but New York's just in love with Carmelo Anthony, no comment. Yeah, Randall's an interesting player. I like him, but he was never a superstar out of college. He was never anointed and therefore a bit of a tweener. He's always been like a two and a half. But he's a good player. Lakers kind of bailed on him in a league of three point shooters. He was always a two guy, and so the league kind of abandoned him. But he is a very good second act could be. I think he's a third best player on a championship team, a second best player on a playoff Yeah, I would agree with that. Yeah, all right, Colin Wright Colin wrong on Monday. Here we go where Colin was right? Well? I said the day after the Lakers made the big trades, I said, there'll be a playoff team just by eliminating Russell Westbrook. There'll be a better shooting team, and a better passing team and a better defensive team. And their four and one. Since the move, Jared Vanderbilt has been shockingly good, at least shocking to me. Anthony Davis has remained healthy. I still worry about a D and Lebron health, but they've got more ways to beat you. DeAngelo Russell Vanderbilt Malik Beasley. It's a decent roster. It feels like if Lebron and ad are healthy, a team that could absolutely not only make the playoffs as a sixth seed, but could win a playoff series. A second I don't know, but a playoff series. They look exactly like we thought they would. Where Colin was raw, Mistelmark Jackson situation gets worse by the week. I think they're headed for a divorce now. I don't know how you give up on a quarterback that wins seventy four percent of his games in a division with Joe Burrow, Deshaun Watson, and Kenny Pickett. Looks like he can play, but I thought it would be an automatic. The stories continue to leak. It could be Miami. I don't know. He's got a lot of wow. I've always thought he throws it better than people think. He's the best running quarterback in the league. He's a team guy. They weren't very good when he didn't play. I think I missed on this one. J Mack was way ahead of it. But I think they're headed for a divorce. Where Colin was right, Mac Jones is not the problem. According to Tom Current, Robert Kraft is a huge fan and does not blame mac Jones regression on mac Jones, I'll say it again, he's got a ceiling, but in the get the ball, throw the ball accurately to an open place. He's very good and his rookie numbers were excellent. They really were if you go back and look at him. But the organization has been tone deaf on the offensive side. I think mac Jones bounces back, but I said it during the season. Their issue is not a mac Jones problem, It's an organizational problem and a lack of sensibility to the offense. Where Colin was raw, Jake Paul lost. I watched two Tommy Fury videotapes and thought he was awful, but he was better than Jake Paul. He just used the jab effectively, landed it for forty minutes and controlled the fight. Jake Paul had the best single punch of the fight, but overall, Tommy Fury a very average heavyweight, kind of stiff, not that athletic one. Going away, I didn't think it was particularly close. Where Colin was right, I said Kyrie Irving would make the Mavericks interesting but not necessarily great, and that's what happened. They're three and three since that deal. The bottom line is, Luca and Kyrie are both egregiously bad defenders. It's why a source told me two weeks ago they would love in the offseason to make a deal for a d They don't have a rim protector. They don't have enough size. You know, a lot of players in this league are interesting, but when you cut you could argue the two stars in this league that just don't make much of an effort on the defensive end are Luca and Kyrie Irving. I think they're fun to watch. I think they could win a playoff series. Kyrie's one of the great small finishers in the history of the sport. But they've kind of you know, they're three and three and there's they're a little immature. They don't have depth there at this point. Mark Cuban's face told the story yesterday, they're nothing more than talented at this point, that they're talented where Colin was row the Denver Nuggets. I don't trust them, but they remain, once again this week the hottest team in the West. They've won seven of their last ten and I'll say this morn Nicolayokich is gonna win his third trate MVP between Jamal Murray. They've got depth. I they're an organization that I don't trust in a big series against the more veteran team like the Clippers or the Warriors. But the West has a lot of good young teams. Memphis they don't have a lot of playoff experience. Denver didn't have a playoff experience. K D, by the way, is brand new to the Suns, So I think that the West is wide open. They maintained for the last several months their number one in the West, and they remain the hottest team in the West. Where Colin was right. Set it three weeks ago, set it two weeks ago, set it a week ago. The Rams are gonna move off Jalen Ramsey, and now the stories are flying that they're moving him. They're gonna move them eventually because they have to. I've been told the organization has made a decision. They're gonna go all in on offense for the next six months. They're gonna go all in on offense. In the draft, free agency. They just moved off Bobby Wagner. They've got some defensive holes, but they can probably get a first and a fourth or a couple of seconds or a first and a fifth for Jalen Ramsey. And they've gonna give Sean McVay, who contemplated retirement. They're gonna shore up his offensive lines. They're gonna get him another receiver. They'd like to move off Cam Akers and get him another running back. So I've been told inside the organization McVeagh is going to get some offensive help and they're not going to be as good defensively. But that's and for the record, Jalen Ramsey, he's a terrific player. Two years ago he had one of the best seasons ever for a corner. He was fantastic. I think he's a big play corner that takes too many risks, but he's a top five corner in the league. Where Colin was right, sometimes you're gonna take people by the hand. They're reticent to change, and that's major dgue baseball. But they've made multiple changes this season and so far they're all working. They have implemented a pitch clock is shaving twenty minutes off spring training games. It just so happens. I sat next to a minor league general manager of baseball general manager from Detroit yesterday and he said his league has been using this for two years and it absolutely cuts fifteen to twenty minutes off games. They're going to move off the defensive shift, which I always hated. That'll mean more stolen bases, more base runners, more power hitters hitting it in the alley and getting hits. The sport needs to be quicker. You're all on our phones now. People want activity, they want shortened games. They don't have four hours. And the bottom line is baseball kicking and screaming had to be pulled into changes. But so far in spring training they're making the game easier to consume. The games are now two forty knock, three oh five, and it's good. It's all good. Some people do not like change and are going to fight at tooth and nail, and those people in America are called baseball fans. So sometimes you just have to pull them in. And it's a sport that loves its history is sometimes paralyzed by it. But you know, I know, when you're a twenty year old, you don't have kids, you're not married, you don't have a career, you have more of a job. You have all day to watch baseball, but tickets are expensive. You're trying to get parents. They don't want to sit in a stadium for three and a half hours. They want to go watch six innings, have a beer, get home early. Can have three and a half hour games. Especially for a season that has too many games, you don't want the games to be long. Football is different. It's once a week. It's a party, your tailgate. You're sitting next to the same people for twenty years. A game goes four hours. You give your Sunday up for it. Nobody wants to give their Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday up for three and a half hour games. Right when the season's already too long. You know what, the games to be too long. If you had one game a week in baseball, nobody would care. You got six time matters, all right? Even I got gray hair, and it's too slow for me. Forget forget jamac guy's got no time for it. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Within the iHeart Radio app, Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like. Oh, it's always a good day. When our friend Mark Mdine has been covering the NBA for a long time, cover the Lakers USA today, and he graces us with his presence a couple of times a year. I had no idea that Jay Mack and you had a relationship here. So you guy, you've been going on his straight fire with McIntyre pod for years. Yeah, I mean, I think it all traces back to being able to talk coops with you, and then the trickle down effect of everyone else. It's like it's like Reagan's economy. It's just the trickle down. Okay. So I was saying this, My lasting image of yesterday's Laker win is Lebron in the tunnel limping, and I challenge the audience find me a three week period in the last three years when a dear Lebron isn't in the tunnel, limping on the floor, writhing in pain, or has to leave a game early. That said, they do feel like a succeed to me. I think they're a playoff team. Now, Yeah, that's what they look like to me. Yeah, I think they're a playoff team. And now, look, I know Laker fans and Lebron certainly wanting championships. I don't think that's realistic. But when you think about the beginning of this season, just how turbulent it was with Russell Westbrook and every game was a challenge and they would blow leads. This is philosophically a much different team, no doubt. It still starts with Lebron and adye how healthy they can be, but you look at all the positional needs they fulfilled with this Russell Westbrook tray, with getting D'Angel Russell Molik Beasley. Now the shooting is a little bit better. Now you have guys like Jaron Vanderbilt and Mobamba. Now the defense is a little bit better. Eighty has some reinforcements, and so I think obviously the bigger concern, Hey, how is Lebron's foot? He was lumping after the game, but you have to give him credit that he was gutting out the rest of that game. Ad You just never know with him, but when healthy, he has been his most dominant self, almost like the bubble this season. So there is that scenario of getting into the sixth seed, but much like the Western Conference Land Escape the Lakers season, it's so up in the air and fluid day to day, but much more optimistic than pre trade that line. So with this, I watched the Mavericks yesterday in Mark Cuban, you watched the meme of his face. My takeaway was they were good early because they hit threes. They weren't as good late because they missed threes. It's a limited team. And I said early that Luca and Kyrie are interesting. I don't think neither plays defense. And if you go to the finals last year, Boston was the number one defensive team when Draymond played. Last year in the regular season, Golden State was the best defense since Duncan, I think statistically, so nobody talks about defense. But Milwaukee plays at Boston plays at Warriors, play at Clippers play it. I just don't think Dallas can compete at a high level. But I think they're a fun watch. Yeah, without a data I mean Cremento is a little like that. Yeah, I think Sacremento is a much better team than the Mavericks. But look, with Dallas, I think that they made the right move getting Kyrie Irving because of the context of that season. It's been Luca Dodge and even with a relatively improved supporting cast with good role players, there's not that definitive star. I think Kyrie and Luca will continue to grow their chemistry, and I think for all the question marks about them as far as how they coexist with players, I think that pairing is good. The problem is they don't have other reinforcements, partly because of that trade, but even before Kyrie Irving's trade deadline, they didn't have a lot of good defenders. And so while there are things that leave me pessimistic about their run, when it comes to Kyrie's unpredictability and whether he's a long term fit, as well as the rest of the roster itself, I think that from a pragmatic lens, this is a move to show, hey, Luca, we're committed to you in going all in, But it's also a bridge to the offseason, because that's when the crossroad sits of Hey, do we really want to commit to Kyrie long term? If not, we have this cap space to try to get a better roster. Let me go two more Western stories. Then we'll move over to talk Nick Celtics tonight, because I do think it's one of those half a dozen an NBA regular season games that I really really want to, you know, watch, So the Warriors are fascinating. You know them very well. They transition a small ball before the rest of the league, so there's not a lot of size. Wiggins has been out for personal reasons, Draymond's been banged up. Cavon Looney can rebound, not much offense. They've got Green another player with some size. They're small. So Clay was hurt last year, Steph is hurt this year. Draymond's hurt now, MRI. I will see how seriously, So I do feel like they're getting to a point like the old Bulls where if they could get to the finals this year, win or lose. I kind of feel like we've hit a road that you've got to start moving off pieces. Maybe it's maybe it's time to say, listen, we can get a lot. It's weird to say Clay and step wouldn't play together. So let's start with this premise. Do you believe when healthy step will be back, Draymond's back. Do you believe they're a championship teams constituted this year? It's a good question. I want to feel comfortable enough to put money on them being able to turn things around to win a championship, But you know, philosophically, you don't beat against them much like the same time last season, they didn't play a lot of games Steph, Draymond and Quay together, but it didn't matter as much because they had all that equity from all those finals runs, so it was plug and play. Really good players. Per one hundred possessions they're starting five is still best in the league. Yeah, without a doubt, and I think that there is a scenario pathway for that to happen. Klay Thompson He's had I think his highest scoring month of his career in January, third highest this month, so he is turning a corner post to kill his injury. Steph Curry, He's going to be a reevaluated Wednesday. He's been doing non contact. Maybe he starts doing full contact to come back sometime next week. Jordan Pool's twenty a game now. Yeah, Jordan Pool's growing. He you know, I was talking to him last week about his process. He's been getting a lot more to defensive attention because Steph Curry's now on the floor. He's improved a lot, So that's a work in progress as well as his defense. Steve Kerr was saying the other day when I asked him about his defense. Hey, when he puts his mind to it, he can be really good defensively, but he sometimes loses focus and so there's elements of him showing some growing pains. But again there's a pathway of him playing really well once the other guys are on the floor. But there's also an unknown because we don't know how these injuries will actually pan out. Gary Payton, the second who they got back from Portland in the trade deadline, he's out for at least another month. Who knows what he'll be like post injury, And this idea they've already kind of conceded that the young guy timeline isn't going to quite work out as panwith James Wiseman trade. I think he's intriguing, but this is the third year he's intriguing. He's twitchy and athletic. I never feel they trust him in key spots without a doubt. He has some highlight reels, fast forward, highlight blunders, so you never know what you're going to get. And when it comes to the playoffs, no doubt it's going to come down to those all stars. But ideally they want to give someone like Jonathan cominga you know, ten minutes fifteen minutes of the rotation, so it's not just on the veteran guys. So I think things can change, obviously from a contractual standpoint, how the team is, but there definitely is a feeling that, even at the beginning of the season, not just because of the Draymond Green punch with Jordan Poole, but just the roster construction in the age, that maybe this is the last season with the core group. Klay Thompson even conceded as such when I talked with him before the season. But they also are very well aware that as long as they're with each other right now, anything can happen. And because the fluidity of the NBA just moves at such a rapid fire pace and circumstances change like a dime, that they're just going to adapt to those circumstances. And whether it's good, bad, or ugly, we'll wait and see. But they're trying to be prepared for all this scenario. How optimistic are you on the ad Booker Chris Paul DeAndre Ayton relationships. I'm optimistic on the relationship. I'm optimistic on the chemistry. I think that they can coexist really well as a tandem, great talent, great IQ. I think they're about winning, but I think the questions are the durability. Can any of these guys stay out here? It's a two year window, and I think the Suns they had to make that deal ten times out of ten, even if you're giving up some really good pieces like a Michael Bridges. But it's not like they're the runaway favorites here. I would put them on paper as the favorite to win the title, but as you know, Colin, things on paper don't always play out in reality. So assuming they're healthy, they're they're gonna win the title. But there's a lot of question marks on how durable these guys can be because so far this season, Chris Paul started the season hurt, then Devin Booker, Kevin Durant. He still hasn't come back yet. He's expected to come back Wednesday. But how healthy can most notably Chris and Kevin stay healthy? And that's that's the great unknown. But I don't have any concerns whatsoever about their chemistry and their ability to coexist. All right, let's pivot to the et Celtics Nicks tonight. It's a really good regular season game. Let's start with Boston. I still this is a weird feeling I always have. I don't trust them in the half court. They get stagnant, they become very Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum dependent. Like Milwaukee, for instance, I got Janis now they have Crowder, Joe Ingles, Middleton, Drew Holiday, Brook Lopez. I feel like seven guys can get a basket. I feel this team becomes Although Malcolm Brogden's a nice fit, I just feel like it becomes very Brown Tatum dependent on possessions in key spots and both excellent players. So I can like a team, but I first of all, I feel like Golden States in their head. Remember when they played about a month ago. I always feel Golden States in their head. And I just think, my gut feeling is Milwaukee's got more basketmakers in a close series with this team. Where are you on Boston. Yeah, it's very tough. I hear all your things. I think that relatively speaking, Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown have shown greater chemistry that starts from the beginning of the middle of last season. I talked with Marcus Smart about that earlier in the year and he feels like they've done a really good job of knowing when each player should find their own versus passing the ball. And remember Marcus last season, he was very out of and he wasn't calling them out, but he did mention, Hey, like guys have to pass I Jal and Jason right. So I think that that's better. There is something to be said about the wisdom that you get after losing in the final, because I think that's played out. There is better health, most notably with Marcus Smart Robert Williams the third. Marcus typically, when I talked to him last month or two, when I asked about the what if about not being healthy in the finals, he didn't want to use that as an excuse, but he was honest in saying he wasn't one hundred percent. You know, I know that you're high on Robert Williams the third. He wasn't obviously one hundred percent. So I do like them, But if I had to pick between them or Boston, I give the slight or to Milwaukee. I do give the slight edge to Milwaukee because of what you said, They're deeper. Chris Middleton is back. Remember they lost to Boston last season when Chris was her and they've had to deal with that this season. And Ingles and Crowder again, guys that get you a big bucket. They can get hit shots. Yeah, and Crowder specifically, they got him with the idea of, hey, we need someone who can defend Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and Drew Holliday can do that. You know, the game yesterday against Phoenix, he had some flashbacks to twenty twenty one NBA Finals guarding Devin Booker. But they want to also relieve his workload. And to his credit, when Chris Middleton was out, he really stepped up his game. So I would say, really, it's a toss up seven game, serious flip a coin. But if I had to put money on it, it's Milwaukee. Yeah, so you know the Knicks are interesting, so and it makes me so it's easy to say today, boy, the MAVs shouldn't have moved off Jalen Brunson. But it does point to something that's real, is that if you play with Luca boy, you're just not gonna get as many looks. Jalen Brunson was to some degree suppressed. He goes to New York. He's fantastic. And that's not a knock on Luca. It's like I always I believe he's a better version of James Harden. He's got the ball a lot. It's like when Westbrook played with Kad. We all knew Katie was great. He goes to Golden State, You're like, Wow, controls an entire series with Lebron and Stephen it And so I look at Jalen Brunson, I think you can win multiple playoff series if Jalener won. I think Randall's better served as a two to a three. Tonight they'll play. I think it's in the garden. They'll play with incredible passion. Do you buy the Knicks because I look at the East and I know the two best teams, but Cleveland's probably too young, Philadelphia is weird. Don't trust hard in the postseason? Could the Knicks? Are they capable of becoming that third team in the East. They are capable. I think they're ceiling is second round this season, but because but that has more to do with Boston Milwaukee was just how much more experience they have, how much depth they have. But I think that they are the real deal. And when you're looking at Jalen Brunson. Keep in mind, look, there's a lot of hand ringing about his departure and the circumstances from the Dallas to it doing enough to make sure that he wouldn't leave. What were the Knicks involvement fre free agency? The NBA didn't look down upon that too kindly, but there was a lot of talk of hey, is even worth a max contract? And the answer is an absolute yes. Yea. You hit on a great point. That why I think that Jalen Brunson and Luca don Chich I think they co existed well, yes, no doubt. A player looks much different when you're expected to be the one as opposed to a second option, and Jalen has lived up to that billing. I thought he should have made the All Star Game. Yeah, most people thought he got got jobbed. But you know what, Hey, Julius Randall's another great candidate, and I think that knowing how Julius' career has panned out, I really love his passion, I really love his playmaking. There's been times where he would allow the frustrations to get the best of him, and that happened earlier in his career. That happened last year in New York, and you know, the fans turned on him. But he has really been able to rectifying course correct and I think that has to do a lot with that. As much as he wears his emotions on his sleeve and sometimes it gets in his way, it's also a good thing because it shows that he cares and New York loves that. He's very competitive and he knows how to change his game and fine tune it so it's not always pulling a China shop type feel when he's running up and down the court. Yeah, Nick, Nicks are an interesting team. I find, you know, sometimes big city teams aren't lovable. I find the Knicks have an underdog feel. I think, like, I don't think the Sixers are that likable. Harden mbiid like they're stars. We've kind of been exhausted by expectations Milwaukee, smaller market. Jannis is incredibly embraceable. I find the Knicks easy to root for. Yeah, and look, with any Tom Thibodeau's team is always going to be competitive, and I know, you know, lead into some of the Christmas Day games when they started making this dramatic turnaround. Now it's talking to Jeff Van Gunni, he knows TIB's well, and he really felt like one of the turning points was with him tightening the rotation. You know, he was playing so many guys and a lot of times when you do that, you know you're not able to get the most out of your core guys. So he didn't make any apologies of hey, let's play heavy minutes to the guys that can actually contribute, and that's what was part of the reason why they've been able to dramatically turn things around. But again to the greater question you have, can they, you know, be a contender in the East? I give that to Milwaukee and Boston. But tomorrow they're a team they have to you have to take serious Cleveland Knicks play tomorrow. Who would you take in the series? Now? I think Cleveland's more gifted offensively, Yeah, and Donovan Mitchell, I mean, he could get seventy one at any point, right. I take Cleveland because of Donovan Mitchell. But you know, look, it's not just a great series. They have a great team, don't no doubt about it. But I'm taking them because of Donovan Mitchell. But the Knicks could very well give them a run for their money because of just how hard they compete and how they have a really good complete team. Yeah, I just that would be a Would that be a great first round series? Nicks Cleveland? That would be the best? Am I wrong on that? That would be a great It would not be great for the Knicks. That's not a great matchup for them. Well, Calves are more offensively talent, They're incredible defensively, Alan protecting the rim with Mobli. I don't know, Mark, who are the best three players in that series? Donovan, Mitchell, jalen Is and is Randall the third best player in this year? We Mobley's a kid. That's a great mob is good, but he's a kid. Yeah, that's the playoffs. But Julius Randall I trust more in a playoff series than JB. Bickerstaff has likened him to a young Anthony Davis and healthy like as far as his potential, yes, I get he's young, but he has all the skills. Where's Garland in that? He's good? Yeah, it's a tough match got dudes, I think it was that series and whoever the Lakers match up with, because it would be a sixth, seventh or eighth seed presumably that would be another fun playoff series. Mark Medina, this was fun fifteen minutes of just just went by, flew by the way I see it, love it, flew by, and congratulations recently engaged, love it. Yeah, I'm very A lot of good news happened. Val and I are excited, and you know we're excited about the NBA's eyes. Good to see anybody after a long day. There's uh oh do I go oh, Jay Mack with the news man. I'm sorry, fired up about that. You love people pairing off and moving on with life. Very excited. You didn't you forgot to ask them about the Sacramento Kings color. I don't think they're a fun story, but they no defense. There's nothing wrong with having a fun team. You're gonna host a first round playoff and they're not gonna win a series, but that'll be fun. Mark, come on back, you all made a chime in here. Yeah, yeah, they're they're not a good defensive team, but it almost gets the point where it doesn't matter. They're so amazing on offense. I hear me out. I think Deer and Fox Samanta Sabonis behind Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown, they're the second best duo. Wow, Wow, we trust them in the postseason, Well they're gone. They have to start or from a chemistry stamps season. Okay, how about third behind obviously Lebron and there Dad. But those guys aren't help this gotta be health. Sacramento Kings need more love on this show. Cowards that nobody's ever said that sentence and the breaking so many rules on today's show. First day back from vacation, it happens, all right, let's get started at Chicago. Bears have the first overall pick in the draft. Adam Schefter reported the Bears are currently leaning toward moving the pick. This comes after rumors that the Bears were considering a trade involving Justin Fields. Bears ended last season on a ten game losing streak. Now it appears that fields improved play in the second half of the season secured the job. So Colin, I love this discussion. I'm gonna I'm gonna present it this way. Why can't Justin Fields become a Jalen Hurts type quarterback quickly with a new team, say of Baltimore, Ravens or somewhere else. Why can't he become that with Chicago, they have cap space. What do you mean, why why can't he do it? In? First of all, offensive lines not anything great? Okay they were Okay, nothings are not great? And do you trust that coaching staff? Well, where is he gonna go that he's gonna to get a great old line and a great weapon. Well, it just so happens. There is a team who's feuding with their quarterback in Baltimore and they have a really good offensive line. Okay, all right, But I don't think it's where Justin Fields goes from overvalued because of the hype in the moves to almost undervalued. Remember he's on the rookie deal for two more years, Colin, I think I'm in the sixty forty. Justin Fields is gonna work. I do think it's gonna work. But I do think this GM and coach didn't draft him, and I think they're I think they're taking every phone call and I think they absolutely should. I just want to remind you a year ago at this time, Jalen Hurts was coming off a playoff game against the Bucks where he was abysiable, couldn't complete the past. They were down thirty one nothing and everybody's like, oh, Jalen Hurts a guy, are they going to draft the quarterback? They add a J. Brown on the outside, and Jalen Hurts his MVP contender goes to the Super Bowl and looked amazing. They have an offensive coach and the best offensive line in football. Right if Justin Fields had the best offensive line in football, they don't lose ten years. I give him a top ten offensive line to the last year, that fourteenth, and they're going to draft another one. The old line is not as bad as everybody wants to say. And Mooney and Chase Claypool and Cole Comet are very nice players. They need another receiver. I draft another tight end. I mean again, the Eagles with Davonte Smith in the draft, and then a J. Brown who is a superstar and the best wherever Justin Fields goes to get like DeAndre Hopkins or Mike Evans or one of these guys. That's what you do when you've got the cheap quarterback. We like Fields a lot, don't We like sixty forty? Yes, but I think there are concerns after two years that he does not deliver the ball accurately enough, which is something we could have said about Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia. Right. Although I've seen big leaps with Jalen Hurts, I haven't seen that with Justin two years. I mean Justin. If you go look at Josh Allen and Justin, Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen literally huge year to year leaps, an accuracy mistake with Justin, I've seen the same guy for two years. Kind of feel like I know what has big, strong, mobile arm athletics. It's like YouTube highlights are out of this world. I don't get consistent from the pocket accurate fair But remember Alan had Brian Dable and who did her talent? Sirianni's Shane steik In, who's interviewing. I mean it's tough. I think. Well, I'm sure we'll get back to this all right. Next up, uh, Matt Nagy has officially been named the Chief's offensive coordinator, his second stint with the team as OC. He was there in twenty sixteen and seventeen. Takes over for Eric b Enemy, who went to Washington, where I think he's going to succeed, but that's another story. Um, I don't know what do you make of this move? New OC for Patrick Mahomes. They have Andy Still don't think it matters. Yeah, I don't. I maps you know, people forget he got Mitch Trubisky to the playoffs fair, you know, it's it's Chicago's a tough town. It's like Boston. You can be successful and you're you're you're deemed a loser. He got Mitch Trubisky to the playoffs in a division with Aaron Rodgers. I don't know. It didn't end well, but look back how they didn't. By the way, I didn't love as general manager. I thought his GM whiffed on multiple pick Matt Naggie's more than capable. It felt like that season in Chicago was just charmed. What what? Everything fell into play? Maybe it was a schedule, opponents were inferior. Remember Tyrod Taylor got to the playoffs a few years back, I think in Buffalo before they got Josh Allen, and it was like it's Tyrod Taylor the guy Like sometimes these things are flukey teams sneak in and like, I don't is this guy a good coach? Job? Well, he's not asked to be a coach, He's asked to be a coordinator. With Pat Mahomes and Andy Reid, which is gonna make him get a head coaching job somewhere in three years. If you're all the chief staff with Reid and Mahomes, you're getting looks, aren't you. I think I think they should be heavy favorites to win again next year. I'm not saying he's better or worse, but the idea that Chicago was just a disaster, Mitch Trubisky to the playoffs, the NFC was better, Aaron Rodgers was better. That's something final story. Dak Prescott number that four year, one hundred sixty million dollar or extension with the Cowboys in twenty one, two years later the contracts being discussed. So today at the Combine and Indie, Stephen Jones piped up and said, I don't get why he said this. We have got to plan to ultimately extend Dak. Here's his full quote. I've got a lot of faith in the world that we can win this thing with Dak because we know him, we know what he's about. A leadership skills are undeniable, impeccable work ethic. Other than he hadn't want some key playoff games, He's everything you want in a quarterback from the day he walked into the door. He's won a lot of games. We just have to get over the hub, all right. I don't know is this even the right thing to say? Come? You know they can. I I got news. I spent five years talking about Dak. I got Dak fatigue. I think we know what Dak is. It's like talking about Kirk Cousins. I know what I got and I know what I don't. Well, I looked up his contract. There's an out after next year. If the Cowboys won, they can get out of the day. They're gonna extend in I guarantee you yeah. That's they do bad things. They extend Zekiel Elliot, pay him a lot of money. They gonna Dak choose. I saw a mock draft. Hey, listen to this. I saw a mock draft yesterday, and it was a good one. Wasn't this nonsense? It had good picks. You know, they had the Cowboys taken in the first round. Be Jean Robinson running because I don't want to pay Tony Pollard. Dak needs a good run game. They don't want to pay Tony Pollard. Be Sean Robinson's gonna walk into this league and rush for fifteen hundred yards. He's the best running back since Zeke. So you've been telling me for weeks as the Chiefs draft of running back in the seventh round. He's started the Super Bowl. He's good y, Yeah, but that's why are you taking You don't think the Cowboys have other needs? No, No, don't compare Kansas City and Dallas ever in fight. Okay, they got different they have different stuff. They're paying Travis Kelsey and they're paying Mahomes, and they're paying Joe Tuney and they're paying Chris Jones and then they gotta go find their running backs elsewhere. But in terms of Dallas right now, they need a corner and they they gotta they gotta get cheap because Michael Gallup now is overpaid. They can't afford they keep their tight end. Dallas just gonna go get some home run hitters because you're not getting home runs from DAF. So you're telling me you're out on Zeke and Pollard and out. It's just it's over. Like. Zeke is not a home run hitter anymore. He's a short yardage back. Totally agree. I'm not I'm paying him a fortune. It's time to get cheap and viable and flexible at running back running back in the first round. I thought we wrote that off as Marty. You know what if you have a draft pick and there's a star, a Pro Bowler drafting, who cares what position plays outside of like kicker, I thought I saw and now we're falling apart here, Collor. I thought we were less tackle guys pass protection, like the valuable positions. When I'm who's going down the list? Quarterback, left tackle, cornerback, edge rusher, where's running back? Seventh eighth? Kay Dallas has Micah edge rusher? Dalla, they have Tyron Smith for one more year, then they'll get rid of it. Okay, Okay, they have a great corner. They have a number one receiver. Treyvon Diggs is great. Now well I think he's a number one corner. So they have a number one corner, a number one edge rush the Marcus Lawrence and Micah. Okay, they have a number one weapon. Their old line last year was rebuilt. They have Tyron for one more year. They need It's okay, they could they need They need another corner and a pop running back. I got no problem. If Dalla do your mox app. I don't know. We gotta do dueling mock drafts. I love Marcs. There we a lot of times. Take a break here, okay, j Mack with the news. Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the Herd. Long back in a second to Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nine a Empacific. This is Steve Cavino and Rich Davis, and together we are Cavino Enriched Cavino and Rich. Thanks buddy, that's right, Caveno and Rich, Fox Sports Radio's newest hit show, heard weekdays from five to seven Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app. Every Cavino Rich shows available as a pie podcast. Just search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe of such a rocking dude. The show features our unique take on sports, injected with some fun, humor and relatability. Listen to Covino Enrich five days a week on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Give me hell, yeah, I haven't done my Green Bay Packers story today. But according to Tom Pellasaro, who's a legitimate reporter. If Aaron wants to return to Green Bay, and as long as he's fully bought in, that means the poet the off season, green Bay will take him back. If Rogers wants to play, and if he's bought into the way they want to proceed as a franchise, the Packers want him back. I'm getting to the point. My question is, Jordan Love. There's never been a quarterback that I recall in recent memory that sat for four full years and became a star. Now, Aaron sat for three, But it was a different time. College quarterback came in much more. Raw didn't have this generational seven on seven camp advantage. Kids now have ten thousand passes by the time they're like sixteen years old. It's a different ball game. You played a handful of junior college games. Aaron did at Butte, then he played a couple of games at Cal a few games. You know, he's got thirty games, forty games experience. That's a kids are playing all summer now, seven on seven passing camps. It's a totally different world today, Jordan Love, in this generation, there's no way can you imagine Joe Burrow sitting for four years. Can you imagine Lamar Jackson being satisfied sitting for four years in twenty twenty three. My question is, if Jordan loves a franchise guy, He's not gonna sit for another year. There's no way you should sit. So my question is, I don't know if Jordan Love has the leadership, the moxie, the pride, there's no way in the world I'm sitting for Justin Herbert's gonna sit for four years. And by the way, in the NFC, would Jalen Hurts. When Jalen Hurts sat at Alabama, He's like, I'm not sitting at Alabama. I'm going to Oklahoma. I love when somebody's like, I'm gonna Joe Burrows, Like, I'm not sitting behind and I'm going to LSU. That tells me you're a leader. That tells me you have confidence. That tells me you have self belief. If you're willing to sit for four years and never take a legitimate, big time snap for a month in NFL, says not the NBA. You can come off the bench, get twelve minutes the experiment for a year two you don't play as a backup, like if you're the leader and the player I think you could be. You cannot accept four years on the bench in the NFL. The Herd