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 an 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. Ed McCaffrey played for thirteen years in the NFL, got to three Super Bowls, two of the Broncos, one with the Niners, and his teams won all of them. Of course, the dad of Christian McCaffrey. He's got four sons. By the way, let me ask you when when? Because Christian is such a unique player. You were a great receiver, he can he runs routes like a receiver. And you know Mike Shanahan because you've played under Shanahan. Did you know instantly when Christian went to the nine, I mean god, he was there an hour and a half and he was always already productive. Did you know that was going to work as quickly as it did end? Yeah, I knew that he was going to a great organization. From Jed Yorke on down. John Lynch, a former teammate of mind to Kyle Shanahan and you know Bobby Turner and running back coach and Anthony Lynn. So he was going to a class organization with a lot of talents on their team. You know, they had struggled. I think there were three and three at the time, but I think Kittle was banged up. I knew that if they had everybody healthy, he could really add a lot of value to the team and to the offense. And man, it was great. I mean they pretty much went undefeated with him as a starter throughout the rest of the season, right up and right up until they lost the Eagles in just a tragic fashion with Perdy getting hurt three plays into the game. But he loves his teammates, loves his team. It was a really good situation for him, did you. I mean, obviously, I always think Christian's ability to catch really he's just too fast for linebackers. You were a star receiver at one point, you had three or four straight thousand yard receiving I remember it well. It was straight thousand yard receiving years. So at some point he had to get some of that receiving talent from you. Is it something you worked on a lot early with Christian. Yeah, well, you know, every kids like this crazy hybrid mix of their parents and have certain genetics. So he got my hands for sure. He got a lot of Lisa's. Lisa was a soccer player in college, and he got a lot of her quickness and ability from her as well. But definitely got my hands. And you know, as a former receiver, I guess that's one thing I could work with them with throughout throughout his career. But he's always he's always had good hands, you know. He does a phenomenal job, and coach Shanahan does a great job of moving them out at receiver. Actually played as much receiver as he's ever played this year, just lining up in the slot. But they had another guy like Diebo Samuel who you can line up in the backfield. So I think those are two of the most dynamic and versatile players in the league. And one of the big challenges defenses have is most of the time they bracket Christian out of the backfield because they don't want to leave him one on one with anybody. But now you got to choose with between you know, your tight end and Christian, and if Debo's in the game. There's a lot to decipher if you're a defensive coordinator. Three super Bowls for you. You were also with the Niners and the Broncos. Forget super Bowls, you were in a lot of big games, a lot of playoff games. I've had players I've talked to like legendary tough guys, they're like super Bowl. I was nervous, and I said, Jalen Hurts has not been in one mahomes and Reed been in several. Take me to your first Super Bowl, ed, I mean, you played in big college games, NFL games. Were you nervous, were you distracted? Did you sense the anxiety? I think there's a ustress or like a good energy or good nervous nervousness that everyone feels. If you don't have a little bit of butterflies in terms of excitement, there's probably something wrong with you. But my first Super Bowl was Super Bowl twenty nine. I was backing up Jerry Rice with the San Francisco forty nine ers and playing special teams, so I wasn't starting, and I remember feeling that really cool energy going onto the field. But then by the time they were done singing the national anthem and making announcements. I was almost like, let's go already. I mean, it's taken forever, so it's it's the longest game you'll ever play in. And I was excited. Had one catch for five yards in the game when Jerry had to come out for a play and thought I might be going to Disney World, but I had to tackle on special teams. But I remember I want to just smiling it just being so excited. I mean, that's every player's dream is to win a Super Bowl. I think every every player that plays the game dreams of the of themselves playing in the Super Bowl. I was catching the winning touchdown in my dreams, not making a tackle on the kickoff team. But nonetheless it was it was really, really fun. I was so blessed what a great team that forty nine Ers team was, and I was it was so blessed to be part of it. But then followed that up a couple of years later with the back to back Super Bowls in Denver. You know, I was prepared for it, and a lot of my teammates were prepared for We had guys that were free agents as signed with a team that were you know, Hall of Fame caliber, all pro caliber guys that want to be part of something great. Yeah, so you played with Elway and Steve Young and so. And by the way, those guys were ahead of their time. Ed they they they extended the pocket. They were very I remember watching Elway. There wasn't a lot of Elway in the league. So now Hurts moves, Mahomes moves. Let's let's let's take Mahomes. Do you see any Steve Young or Elway or is he totally a unicorn one on one, No, I definitely do. I mean we're talking about two Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Those guys were phenomenal and Steve Young just a leader, incredibly athletic. I mean, he still might have some rushing records as a quarterback in the league. And if he was in an offense that obviously ran the quarterback intentionally. You know, he could have played in any system. And then John Elway reminds me a decent amount of you know, him and Mahomes are decently similar, and that he was incredibly mobile, especially when he was younger. By the time I was playing with him, he was still mobile and he was missing all the cartlage in his knees. But he was out there competing doing the helicopter, but he also had the rocket arm and so Mahomes has that combination of ability and arm strength where he can scramble around to buy time and then if there's someone down the field, he will gun it. Elway did the same thing throughout his entire career. Yeah, Now, Elway was remarkable. So you were in you live in Colorado, so you we all watched the Denver mess. I was shocked by it. I mean, Russell had been good for four years and then it was just awful. Some of it's coaching obviously when you were watching it, and I threw this out, you're a Stanford guy. You're smarter than me, so I'll throw this out to you. I said, this is that Hackett had an offense in Green Bay, went to Denver and he brought that offense. But Russell didn't work in that offense and he kind of stuck with it. And that's what it looked like to me, because I kept asking myself, by week three, move Russell, move the pot? Well what do we do? And they didn't. I mean, when you watched it, it just never got better. What did you see? Well, you know, I felt sorry for coach Hackett, I really did. I mean, they lost their star running back in Williams, they lost their left tack or they lost Patrick at wide receiver, and instantly you didn't have the team that you thought you were going to battle with to start the season. And in some of the receivers got banged up throughout the year, they had to shuffle their offensive line, so it was not an ideal situation. You can't just lose a few starters and think things are going to go as planned. So you do need to adapt the script. You do need to find a way to put your players in a position to have success. And you know, coach Payton talked about that a little bit, a little more run game, a little more play action, do some things that helps him out maybe a little bit more. But no coach thinks are going to be in it for one year or less than one season and be gone. So I think he got caught in really tough position where he wanted to install his system and do some things that he was comfortable with and familiar with, and then guys started dropping like flies. It wasn't work. And honestly, the expectations in Denver Sky high Man it's like win a super Bowl or bust and Matthew Stafford spoiled us. Tom Brady spoiled us. All you need is a free agent quarterback, right That was the Talco winner of the season. Well, we we found out that I don't care how good you are. A quarterback might help win you a game or two. They're not going to get you to the playoffs or win a super Bowl. You need a team. Yeah, yeah, Well we'll see how Sean Payton works. He's obviously a dynamic offensive guy. I want to ask if finally Ed McCaffrey joining us, if you could have stayed healthy. And obviously a receiver's career is much different than a quarterbacks career. But a player said this to me once about Brady. He said, even if I would have stayed healthy, I just don't know if I wanted to be that committed for twenty three years. That's what always that's what amazed him about Brady is that he took hard coaching the off seasons. He didn't drink a beer in the sea. He's like, that's a lot of commitment. What struck you about Brady? Is that something that struck you or could you have if you could have run to the very end, would you have played twenty three years? Yeah, I think I would have. Back when I was playing, there weren't a lot of guys that took a year off. It was almost like once you retired, you were kind of done. Yeah, And for me, my body was a rack. I had three surgeries back to back to back seasons and missed three off seasons in a row, had a concussion at the end of my career, and I'm like, you know what, I got to think about my long term health here. You know, I'm done. But you know, had there been the ability like Bronk did, where you take a year or two off and come back and play another couple years, I would have probably tried out to see if my body could still do it. Because it's a great game and it's it's incredible, and you can't you can't play forever. And Tom Brady has busted through so many different barriers, including longevity and being able to play for as long as you did. Honestly, I'm kind of sad that he retired. I wanted him to keep playing. I used fun to watch. Yeah, so you missed the game. You missed the camaraderie. You missed being out there on Sunday. Don't get me wrong, if you'll excuse the gratuitous plug. I do like being a house husband and being the runner for Lisa and Ashley on the Your Mom podcast. I'm learning to like this life of eating lunches and working out during the day and taking hot tubs. But I do miss playing. I still get you a little energy on game day. It's just I know how hard these guys work, how much they put in the camaraderie, the brotherhood, the self sacrifice that you put into this game. It's addicting. I think that's why Coach Payton got back in it. I could see in the broadcast booth in his eye he had an edge. You could see it right. You could tell he was liking it. But something about him wanted to be back on the sideline, and so he's coming back as a coach for another round. But I think a lot of players think. I talked to Steve Young, we mentioned him earlier in the show. It took him three four years to get used to not playing, and he's still broadcasting, still close to the game, right, Because you spend so much of your life in this sport. It's hard to give it up. Ed, what a pleasure. We wish you the best and your mom podcast with your wife. Say hi to Christian. He's terrific. Been on the show a couple of times. And thank you so much for giving us ten fifteen minutes. Colin has been my pleasure. Thank you for having me on the show. Thank you all right. Ed McCaffrey was a great, great player. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekday, said Noon Eastre not a empacific. Yeah, I asked. I asked a NFL guy years ago a corner and I forget who it was. I said, who was the most underrated player in the league. He said, Ed McCaffrey. He said, McCaffrey was a long strider. If he got ahead of you, it was over. You'd never catch Ed McCaffrey, who his body kind of fell apart, but was a really really good player. Uh. Simply Savecolin dot com twenty percent off, keep your home, save frontyard, backyard great app as well to check on things when you're out of town. Simply Savecolin dot com. J Mac with the news, Turn on the news. This is the Herd Line News wouldn't be a show if we didn't mention Aaron Rodgers, now, would it, mister Cawar, we haven't. We haven't mentioned him today. I don't think you have. Now, gotta get him in the mix. Okay, I'm not getting him in the mix. You are, well, you're gonna say his name here shortly unless you talk around that. But his future, it's weird. He's got a contract. It's not like he's a free agent and everybody's speculating about his future. So Josh Jacobs, the running back of the Raiders, was asked about the potential of Aaron Rodgers replacing Derek cart next season and said if he were to come, it would change the aspect of a lot of things. I'm not sure what Josh Jacobs means by that, but colin your thoughts on Jacobs, Rogers, Waller, there's a lot of financial things. So they're panned. Darren Waller, Max Crosmy, Chandler Jones, Colton Miller, Josh say, Josh Jacobs, Well, we'll see if they've paid Jacobs. I think he's shot up in the air. Oh, Davante Adams, So if you bring in they have a good backup tight end so if they moved off wall or they'd have to draft one. But they But is this a jab ultimately at Car? Like we're getting a massive upgrade, you know, without taking a big jab at the quarterback? Um, yeah, I guess it is a little kind of These guys are getting microphones shoved in their face all week for Super Bowls, right, and I think guys some guys are gonnap off and say some stuff they were well, and sometimes you inadvertently say stuff. I mean if if if I was the football player, Okay, you're the reporter, you asked me about Aaron Rodgers coming to my team. So, Colin, you are a splendid backup tight end. What do you think about adding Aaron Rodgers to the team? Well, I mean that, and I would change some things. That's a headline? Is that a dig at Cars? On social media? That doesn't feel like a dig at Car? So I again, but in reality, it would Jakes and things. He's a different quarterback than Car. Right, you can't win. It's like it's super Bowl week. If you're asked, boy McIntyre, I don't know about his addition to the show, and you said something and I read it, I'd be like, hey, will you take a jabs at mefore Calic, I don't know that car is going to reach out to Jacobs. It would care, you know, No, I just I don't think it's anything. Criticism is if the player says, yeah, I mean Aaron's obviously would take us to places that Derek couldn't think you're naming names. But I think a lot of times I think we do a bad job in the media making something out of nothing. There's enough that's half the job description. Yeah, there's enough something that we don't have to make nothing something. There's plenty of something. I mean the Kyrie Irving stuff that's been three years of something. Yeah, we don't have to create a nothing out of us. Like I saw this a couple days ago, people were banging on there was saw a Lebron topic about scoring, and everybody had a bunch of different opinions than I thought, like Lebron's when he talked about the scoring thing, it was that Michael Wilbon or something. Probably there was nothing in that that was intendia. But they're trying to pull something nothing. He's just saying it's amazing. I never thought of myself. It was never like on my thing be the best score ever. That's a totally authentic ancer. It's never I never thought Lebron would be the best score in league history. I've ever been thought of that. So but and I'm not again. I've done this before too, where I've taken something that's nothing and probably made it in something I got three hours to fill. But I think a lot of Super Bowl Week you're gonna be asking a bunch of former players things. Somebody you want to crowbar your way in to the discussion, you want to be relevant, say something crazy and incendiary. Why don't we go to the next topic, which is kind of incendiary? So the forty nine ers last week, Shanahan basically said he's seen Joe scenario or Jimmy garoppolos with the team next year. But don't tell that dude, Joe Montana, the Niners legend who believes the Niners should keep Jimmy Garoppolo, even saying that he should start. Here's Joe Montana I started. I mean, how many games is junior one? I mean for the longest time. Yeah, questions were out with Jimmy for a while, but one thing, he's been a games from those guys, and he didn't make him a mistake here and there. But even some of those things I don't just put on Jim. Yeah, he made crazy throw the mistake the playoff game a couple of years ago, but he has won a lot of games. I can't say say you don't know that from you start. The Bots all games for you. I see, I don't think this is crazy. If tomorrow, okay, I'll throw one at you tomorrow or after the Super Bowl. Uh, the Niners, somebody Houston says, um, we're gonna give you a fourth for Trey Lance, And the Niners are like, or whatever, a third or fourth and you do it. And next year you went in with Garoppolo and brought Curdie. They're both capable of going on long winning streaks. Trey Lance, we have no idea. You'd go with two certainty, but you'd be selling Trey Lance low because, okay, Trader, what do you have to do in this league? We all make mistakes in this league. Don't double down on that. Well, it's not double downing because you've got to then pay Garoppolo a ton of money to be your starter, do you. Yeah, if you have Purdy and Lance you're paying like nothing for the starting quarterback, both on the rookie deals. Garoppolo is at least I know, you don't want to believe it, at least thirty. Oh, I'm not paying him. That's how it works. You have to pay him that. To talk about Derek Carr getting forty million, Derek Carr's better than Garoppolo and he never gets hurt. He never gets hurt. Just an availability. He's worth more. He's worth six to eight more a year just because he never gets hurt. You're sure, Derek Derek Carr leads the NFL in fourth quarter comebacks over every other quarterback in the league, Mahomes, Roger Stafford since he entered the league. I'm not saying he's you know, I'd love if he was an inch and a half Toddler with a bigger arm. But he's He's mobile enough, he's accurate, he wins late. Why isn't he playing well in the first three quarters? Why does he always have to come back? Maybe he's uh, maybe it's because the organization can't draft their way out of a brown paperback. Okay. Seven first round picks for the Gruden group. Five were whips and that's not great. The J and C consulting. I think it's time final story. Oh yes, now this is a team we can all talk about. The New York Jets expected to pursue a veteran quarterback this all season. All right, here are the names Aaron Rodgers, Derek Carr, and Jimmy Garoppolo. However, don't you know, don't get too concerned about Zach Wilson because according to the report right now, they do not intend. Intend is a key word to trade Zach. Okay. I think there's a big mistake. It's a big mistake by Sala. Here's why. It's not that he struggled. It was bad in the locker room, it was bad in the press. There is a stink unfair, unfair, there's a stinker. Run. If I'm the Arizona Cardinals, this is who I go gap Kaymer Murray is not around the building. Zach Wilson with a fresh start, with a Brian with a with a good coach. Let's say he gets Kafka and he literally come back out west, mature a little bit. You don't have the New York media. I'll drive him to the airport. You've got a brand new head coach. Please, but this didn't work on like eight levels. It didn't work on a city level, a locker room level, a playing level. Get him out, let the kids start over. And I think Arizona is where you take him. I'm with you now, the art of negotiation. You gotta say this right. I don't intend to trade Zack Wilson. We'll call him. I don't intend to eat any girl Scout cookies after work today. I'm probably gonna eat a bunch. So the Jets are probably gonna end up trading Zach wish They cannot come out and say this right, probably, Yeah, but this didn't work on a million levels. Ye, So if you get Zach closer to home, okay, smaller media, lower expectations with a new coach, not a coach that has to win or he's out a lot of heat in New York right now, like Kasalo's gotta win some games. And now the GM has drafted great except that quarterback. And they don't know how to pick a quarterback. And you know that's the most important position in sport American sports. Yeah, I can't pick a quarterback. I don't know how good you are. J Mack with the news. Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the herd line news. It's okay. You just can't in this league if you make a mistake at quarterback and people much smarter than me have got to move off it. I feel like made a mistake, happens, We're done. Like Zach Wilson, it doesn't work football, it doesn't work city, it doesn't work locker room, it doesn't work with this offense. It just doesn't work. And by the way, you know, play inside, play out West. Give him an offensive coach. If Kafka gets the job, he gets an offensive coach. Refine him a little bit, no pressure because Kyler Murray can't play for eight or nine weeks. So it's his job. You're not battling Mike White or if they bring in Garoppolo or car You're not battling anybody. It's his job. Bring him in yours kid, Let's just be positive. Offensive coach arms around him. Kid, this is yours, your second chance in life. A lot of people don't. I think Zach Wilson could be a better version of what we saw. I just thought New York never. I don't love him, but it won't be that bad? How about that won't be that bad. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in newn Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio App. Hey, what's up everybody? It's me three time pro bowler Levarrington and I couldn't be more excited to announce a new podcast called up on Game? What is up on Game? You asked, along with my fellow pro bowler t J. Hudshmanzata and Super Bowl champion Yep, that's right, Plexico Burrus. You can only name a show with that type of talent on it. Up on Game We're going to be sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with Me LeVar Arrington, t J. Huschman Zatta and Plexico Birds on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast from New Year New Wireless plan go to consumer Cellular dot Com Slash The Herd twenty five bucks off the package you can change without changing your phone or number. Okay, so this story it's different. Okay, So I had some streak. I don't go on Twitter enough. Apparently there's a bunch of websites that track how often I talk Aaron Rodgers. I think it's funny if you watch. I don't care if you like so hate me regularly nine to twelve, nine to noon Pacific, Monday through Friday. So apparently there's a story. I thought I was gonna go to the day without talking about Aaron Rodgers, but this story just emerged. And Jason mcinty have never seen him cry before, but he was laughing so hard he was crying. So just report the story that just came down today. I thought I was going to get through this show clean. No Aaron Rodgers topic. Yeah, we had a good topic set to the show. Yeah. And I got a text from a buddy with a screen grab saying, Aaron Rodgers one on the Pat McAfee show today as he does on YouTube. And Aaron Rodgers said he's going to be going on a darkness retreat in a couple of weeks. I've never heard of that, Okay, so instantly I'm intrigued with a darkness retreat. According to Rodgers, it's four days complete darkness, just himself in a little house. Aaron Rodgers his quote on the Pat McAfee YouTube show. I've had a number of friends who've done it, and they've had profound experiences. He expects to make some sort of decision after that, maybe about his football future, whether he demands a trade. I'm gonna stay in Green Bay. So I was just poking around on the internet. Have you ever heard of a darkness retreat? I have not, but I've never done ayahuashka. And I saw that crew that Aaron was hanging out with. I saw a picture of blue Ivy was it was a narcissism retreat. But be that as it may, it was a collection of interesting people according to the Internet, which is never wrong. A darkness retreat is like a spiritual journey. A lot of Yogis and Buddhists do it right, and you're training for I don't know what, and adding discipline to your life, and I start thinking a darkness retreat, like, what is er? We've talked about this wanderer. Yeah, he is searching for something. Yeah, ayahuasca drug is supposed to help you see some clarity. What is he so unclear about? I don't know he I you know, I don't know. So he's a single, rich guy, and it does feel like some would argue he's getting a little kukier, a little well every many other quarterbacks have talked openly about doing Iowa going on a darkness. Shouldn't we appreciate his authenticity? Oh? I love it? Great for content, right yeah, I mean I like that he's willing to talk about stuff. Um, it's not terribly related. But he's rich and single and doesn't care. He doesn't have kids, where sometimes in life I would not necessarily do something thinking how would that land for my kids? He didn't have to worry about that. He's not terribly close with his family. According to multiple reports, they've called him out so like he Aaron is loyal to his friends. That is a large part of his connectivity Joe Rogan in those things. Well, whoever it is, he's not terribly close. It sounds like to his family. He's not married, no kids, So Aaron lives at an Aaron bubble. He's not close with many of his teammates, right, well, we don't know that he could be. No, no, no, no, no no no. They've talked the Romeo Dobbs and these guys talked about I don't hang out with him outside of this thing. Well, the young guys he can't really connect with. Okay, well, do you think twenty five year olds are going on darkness retreats? Well, no, So Aaron, as you get old and rich and you're not married, no kids, you're not a lot of sacrifices. Also, the packers don't have an owner, there's nobody to answer too. He's got far more power than Matt Lafleur or Goudenkoun's. So he lives in a world where Aaron makes decision based on what Aaron wants to do. And so I think he's being authentic to who Aaron is at this stage in his life. He's seeking and I get answers all the time. They're from my wife. Aaron doesn't have that relationship. So yeah, I think he's I think sometimes as you get older, you're single, you're wealthy, you don't need a lot of other people. You are searching for things. I don't think it's a bad thing. It feels a little like a Hollywood thing. Yes, it's very interest a lot of his friends or Hollywood people and music people. Yeah, you start last week, remember we talked about fun friend, fun guy who wants to go to Vegas and you know, three am. He's like, Oh, let's at the You know, what is Aaron Rodgers? What guy is he in your crew? Do you have anyone of that ilk who is way into ayahuasca and has ever mentioned well darkness. There's an old joke about Hollywood people that moved to Hollywood just thought they were too good for their hometown. Sometimes I think Aaron would would be kind of the friend that connected on his terms, not readily available. He's available when he wants to be available. Sometimes sort of vanishes from the circle. But that's okay. Everybody's different. There's there that that friend can be, uh, you know, can be a very valuable friend. I don't I don't want to get too deep into why he's doing this. He did say, according to this story, that he would have an answer after this. I don't think I would like being in a small cabin by myself for four days. I need my dogs. And it's not just a small cabin. It's dark, ye I can I could hang out for a couple of days and if I got like a good movie and I could read. There's none of that in the Darkness Retreat. There's no TV in books, You're just sitting there in darkness. Now, I'm not I'm not willing to do that. I'm not willing to do that for an hour. Now. I've got a problem. I am working on, trying to meditate more. That apparently is really I do that once in a while. Yeah, I like that. What's a heck of a way to end the show. We're gonna go into total darkness. I bet you with this tomorrow, I bet you you do. I'm unpack it a little bit. It's third

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 an 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. Ed McCaffrey played for thirteen years in the NFL, got to three Super Bowls, two of the Broncos, one with the Niners, and his teams won all of them. Of course, the dad of Christian McCaffrey. He's got four sons. By the way, let me ask you when when? Because Christian is such a unique player. You were a great receiver, he can he runs routes like a receiver. And you know Mike Shanahan because you've played under Shanahan. Did you know instantly when Christian went to the nine, I mean god, he was there an hour and a half and he was always already productive. Did you know that was going to work as quickly as it did end? Yeah, I knew that he was going to a great organization. From Jed Yorke on down. John Lynch, a former teammate of mind to Kyle Shanahan and you know Bobby Turner and running back coach and Anthony Lynn. So he was going to a class organization with a lot of talents on their team. You know, they had struggled. I think there were three and three at the time, but I think Kittle was banged up. I knew that if they had everybody healthy, he could really add a lot of value to the team and to the offense. And man, it was great. I mean they pretty much went undefeated with him as a starter throughout the rest of the season, right up and right up until they lost the Eagles in just a tragic fashion with Perdy getting hurt three plays into the game. But he loves his teammates, loves his team. It was a really good situation for him, did you. I mean, obviously, I always think Christian's ability to catch really he's just too fast for linebackers. You were a star receiver at one point, you had three or four straight thousand yard receiving I remember it well. It was straight thousand yard receiving years. So at some point he had to get some of that receiving talent from you. Is it something you worked on a lot early with Christian. Yeah, well, you know, every kids like this crazy hybrid mix of their parents and have certain genetics. So he got my hands for sure. He got a lot of Lisa's. Lisa was a soccer player in college, and he got a lot of her quickness and ability from her as well. But definitely got my hands. And you know, as a former receiver, I guess that's one thing I could work with them with throughout throughout his career. But he's always he's always had good hands, you know. He does a phenomenal job, and coach Shanahan does a great job of moving them out at receiver. Actually played as much receiver as he's ever played this year, just lining up in the slot. But they had another guy like Diebo Samuel who you can line up in the backfield. So I think those are two of the most dynamic and versatile players in the league. And one of the big challenges defenses have is most of the time they bracket Christian out of the backfield because they don't want to leave him one on one with anybody. But now you got to choose with between you know, your tight end and Christian, and if Debo's in the game. There's a lot to decipher if you're a defensive coordinator. Three super Bowls for you. You were also with the Niners and the Broncos. Forget super Bowls, you were in a lot of big games, a lot of playoff games. I've had players I've talked to like legendary tough guys, they're like super Bowl. I was nervous, and I said, Jalen Hurts has not been in one mahomes and Reed been in several. Take me to your first Super Bowl, ed, I mean, you played in big college games, NFL games. Were you nervous, were you distracted? Did you sense the anxiety? I think there's a ustress or like a good energy or good nervous nervousness that everyone feels. If you don't have a little bit of butterflies in terms of excitement, there's probably something wrong with you. But my first Super Bowl was Super Bowl twenty nine. I was backing up Jerry Rice with the San Francisco forty nine ers and playing special teams, so I wasn't starting, and I remember feeling that really cool energy going onto the field. But then by the time they were done singing the national anthem and making announcements. I was almost like, let's go already. I mean, it's taken forever, so it's it's the longest game you'll ever play in. And I was excited. Had one catch for five yards in the game when Jerry had to come out for a play and thought I might be going to Disney World, but I had to tackle on special teams. But I remember I want to just smiling it just being so excited. I mean, that's every player's dream is to win a Super Bowl. I think every every player that plays the game dreams of the of themselves playing in the Super Bowl. I was catching the winning touchdown in my dreams, not making a tackle on the kickoff team. But nonetheless it was it was really, really fun. I was so blessed what a great team that forty nine Ers team was, and I was it was so blessed to be part of it. But then followed that up a couple of years later with the back to back Super Bowls in Denver. You know, I was prepared for it, and a lot of my teammates were prepared for We had guys that were free agents as signed with a team that were you know, Hall of Fame caliber, all pro caliber guys that want to be part of something great. Yeah, so you played with Elway and Steve Young and so. And by the way, those guys were ahead of their time. Ed they they they extended the pocket. They were very I remember watching Elway. There wasn't a lot of Elway in the league. So now Hurts moves, Mahomes moves. Let's let's let's take Mahomes. Do you see any Steve Young or Elway or is he totally a unicorn one on one, No, I definitely do. I mean we're talking about two Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Those guys were phenomenal and Steve Young just a leader, incredibly athletic. I mean, he still might have some rushing records as a quarterback in the league. And if he was in an offense that obviously ran the quarterback intentionally. You know, he could have played in any system. And then John Elway reminds me a decent amount of you know, him and Mahomes are decently similar, and that he was incredibly mobile, especially when he was younger. By the time I was playing with him, he was still mobile and he was missing all the cartlage in his knees. But he was out there competing doing the helicopter, but he also had the rocket arm and so Mahomes has that combination of ability and arm strength where he can scramble around to buy time and then if there's someone down the field, he will gun it. Elway did the same thing throughout his entire career. Yeah, Now, Elway was remarkable. So you were in you live in Colorado, so you we all watched the Denver mess. I was shocked by it. I mean, Russell had been good for four years and then it was just awful. Some of it's coaching obviously when you were watching it, and I threw this out, you're a Stanford guy. You're smarter than me, so I'll throw this out to you. I said, this is that Hackett had an offense in Green Bay, went to Denver and he brought that offense. But Russell didn't work in that offense and he kind of stuck with it. And that's what it looked like to me, because I kept asking myself, by week three, move Russell, move the pot? Well what do we do? And they didn't. I mean, when you watched it, it just never got better. What did you see? Well, you know, I felt sorry for coach Hackett, I really did. I mean, they lost their star running back in Williams, they lost their left tack or they lost Patrick at wide receiver, and instantly you didn't have the team that you thought you were going to battle with to start the season. And in some of the receivers got banged up throughout the year, they had to shuffle their offensive line, so it was not an ideal situation. You can't just lose a few starters and think things are going to go as planned. So you do need to adapt the script. You do need to find a way to put your players in a position to have success. And you know, coach Payton talked about that a little bit, a little more run game, a little more play action, do some things that helps him out maybe a little bit more. But no coach thinks are going to be in it for one year or less than one season and be gone. So I think he got caught in really tough position where he wanted to install his system and do some things that he was comfortable with and familiar with, and then guys started dropping like flies. It wasn't work. And honestly, the expectations in Denver Sky high Man it's like win a super Bowl or bust and Matthew Stafford spoiled us. Tom Brady spoiled us. All you need is a free agent quarterback, right That was the Talco winner of the season. Well, we we found out that I don't care how good you are. A quarterback might help win you a game or two. They're not going to get you to the playoffs or win a super Bowl. You need a team. Yeah, yeah, Well we'll see how Sean Payton works. He's obviously a dynamic offensive guy. I want to ask if finally Ed McCaffrey joining us, if you could have stayed healthy. And obviously a receiver's career is much different than a quarterbacks career. But a player said this to me once about Brady. He said, even if I would have stayed healthy, I just don't know if I wanted to be that committed for twenty three years. That's what always that's what amazed him about Brady is that he took hard coaching the off seasons. He didn't drink a beer in the sea. He's like, that's a lot of commitment. What struck you about Brady? Is that something that struck you or could you have if you could have run to the very end, would you have played twenty three years? Yeah, I think I would have. Back when I was playing, there weren't a lot of guys that took a year off. It was almost like once you retired, you were kind of done. Yeah, And for me, my body was a rack. I had three surgeries back to back to back seasons and missed three off seasons in a row, had a concussion at the end of my career, and I'm like, you know what, I got to think about my long term health here. You know, I'm done. But you know, had there been the ability like Bronk did, where you take a year or two off and come back and play another couple years, I would have probably tried out to see if my body could still do it. Because it's a great game and it's it's incredible, and you can't you can't play forever. And Tom Brady has busted through so many different barriers, including longevity and being able to play for as long as you did. Honestly, I'm kind of sad that he retired. I wanted him to keep playing. I used fun to watch. Yeah, so you missed the game. You missed the camaraderie. You missed being out there on Sunday. Don't get me wrong, if you'll excuse the gratuitous plug. I do like being a house husband and being the runner for Lisa and Ashley on the Your Mom podcast. I'm learning to like this life of eating lunches and working out during the day and taking hot tubs. But I do miss playing. I still get you a little energy on game day. It's just I know how hard these guys work, how much they put in the camaraderie, the brotherhood, the self sacrifice that you put into this game. It's addicting. I think that's why Coach Payton got back in it. I could see in the broadcast booth in his eye he had an edge. You could see it right. You could tell he was liking it. But something about him wanted to be back on the sideline, and so he's coming back as a coach for another round. But I think a lot of players think. I talked to Steve Young, we mentioned him earlier in the show. It took him three four years to get used to not playing, and he's still broadcasting, still close to the game, right, Because you spend so much of your life in this sport. It's hard to give it up. Ed, what a pleasure. We wish you the best and your mom podcast with your wife. Say hi to Christian. He's terrific. Been on the show a couple of times. And thank you so much for giving us ten fifteen minutes. Colin has been my pleasure. Thank you for having me on the show. Thank you all right. Ed McCaffrey was a great, great player. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekday, said Noon Eastre not a empacific. Yeah, I asked. I asked a NFL guy years ago a corner and I forget who it was. I said, who was the most underrated player in the league. He said, Ed McCaffrey. He said, McCaffrey was a long strider. If he got ahead of you, it was over. You'd never catch Ed McCaffrey, who his body kind of fell apart, but was a really really good player. Uh. Simply Savecolin dot com twenty percent off, keep your home, save frontyard, backyard great app as well to check on things when you're out of town. Simply Savecolin dot com. J Mac with the news, Turn on the news. This is the Herd Line News wouldn't be a show if we didn't mention Aaron Rodgers, now, would it, mister Cawar, we haven't. We haven't mentioned him today. I don't think you have. Now, gotta get him in the mix. Okay, I'm not getting him in the mix. You are, well, you're gonna say his name here shortly unless you talk around that. But his future, it's weird. He's got a contract. It's not like he's a free agent and everybody's speculating about his future. So Josh Jacobs, the running back of the Raiders, was asked about the potential of Aaron Rodgers replacing Derek cart next season and said if he were to come, it would change the aspect of a lot of things. I'm not sure what Josh Jacobs means by that, but colin your thoughts on Jacobs, Rogers, Waller, there's a lot of financial things. So they're panned. Darren Waller, Max Crosmy, Chandler Jones, Colton Miller, Josh say, Josh Jacobs, Well, we'll see if they've paid Jacobs. I think he's shot up in the air. Oh, Davante Adams, So if you bring in they have a good backup tight end so if they moved off wall or they'd have to draft one. But they But is this a jab ultimately at Car? Like we're getting a massive upgrade, you know, without taking a big jab at the quarterback? Um, yeah, I guess it is a little kind of These guys are getting microphones shoved in their face all week for Super Bowls, right, and I think guys some guys are gonnap off and say some stuff they were well, and sometimes you inadvertently say stuff. I mean if if if I was the football player, Okay, you're the reporter, you asked me about Aaron Rodgers coming to my team. So, Colin, you are a splendid backup tight end. What do you think about adding Aaron Rodgers to the team? Well, I mean that, and I would change some things. That's a headline? Is that a dig at Cars? On social media? That doesn't feel like a dig at Car? So I again, but in reality, it would Jakes and things. He's a different quarterback than Car. Right, you can't win. It's like it's super Bowl week. If you're asked, boy McIntyre, I don't know about his addition to the show, and you said something and I read it, I'd be like, hey, will you take a jabs at mefore Calic, I don't know that car is going to reach out to Jacobs. It would care, you know, No, I just I don't think it's anything. Criticism is if the player says, yeah, I mean Aaron's obviously would take us to places that Derek couldn't think you're naming names. But I think a lot of times I think we do a bad job in the media making something out of nothing. There's enough that's half the job description. Yeah, there's enough something that we don't have to make nothing something. There's plenty of something. I mean the Kyrie Irving stuff that's been three years of something. Yeah, we don't have to create a nothing out of us. Like I saw this a couple days ago, people were banging on there was saw a Lebron topic about scoring, and everybody had a bunch of different opinions than I thought, like Lebron's when he talked about the scoring thing, it was that Michael Wilbon or something. Probably there was nothing in that that was intendia. But they're trying to pull something nothing. He's just saying it's amazing. I never thought of myself. It was never like on my thing be the best score ever. That's a totally authentic ancer. It's never I never thought Lebron would be the best score in league history. I've ever been thought of that. So but and I'm not again. I've done this before too, where I've taken something that's nothing and probably made it in something I got three hours to fill. But I think a lot of Super Bowl Week you're gonna be asking a bunch of former players things. Somebody you want to crowbar your way in to the discussion, you want to be relevant, say something crazy and incendiary. Why don't we go to the next topic, which is kind of incendiary? So the forty nine ers last week, Shanahan basically said he's seen Joe scenario or Jimmy garoppolos with the team next year. But don't tell that dude, Joe Montana, the Niners legend who believes the Niners should keep Jimmy Garoppolo, even saying that he should start. Here's Joe Montana I started. I mean, how many games is junior one? I mean for the longest time. Yeah, questions were out with Jimmy for a while, but one thing, he's been a games from those guys, and he didn't make him a mistake here and there. But even some of those things I don't just put on Jim. Yeah, he made crazy throw the mistake the playoff game a couple of years ago, but he has won a lot of games. I can't say say you don't know that from you start. The Bots all games for you. I see, I don't think this is crazy. If tomorrow, okay, I'll throw one at you tomorrow or after the Super Bowl. Uh, the Niners, somebody Houston says, um, we're gonna give you a fourth for Trey Lance, And the Niners are like, or whatever, a third or fourth and you do it. And next year you went in with Garoppolo and brought Curdie. They're both capable of going on long winning streaks. Trey Lance, we have no idea. You'd go with two certainty, but you'd be selling Trey Lance low because, okay, Trader, what do you have to do in this league? We all make mistakes in this league. Don't double down on that. Well, it's not double downing because you've got to then pay Garoppolo a ton of money to be your starter, do you. Yeah, if you have Purdy and Lance you're paying like nothing for the starting quarterback, both on the rookie deals. Garoppolo is at least I know, you don't want to believe it, at least thirty. Oh, I'm not paying him. That's how it works. You have to pay him that. To talk about Derek Carr getting forty million, Derek Carr's better than Garoppolo and he never gets hurt. He never gets hurt. Just an availability. He's worth more. He's worth six to eight more a year just because he never gets hurt. You're sure, Derek Derek Carr leads the NFL in fourth quarter comebacks over every other quarterback in the league, Mahomes, Roger Stafford since he entered the league. I'm not saying he's you know, I'd love if he was an inch and a half Toddler with a bigger arm. But he's He's mobile enough, he's accurate, he wins late. Why isn't he playing well in the first three quarters? Why does he always have to come back? Maybe he's uh, maybe it's because the organization can't draft their way out of a brown paperback. Okay. Seven first round picks for the Gruden group. Five were whips and that's not great. The J and C consulting. I think it's time final story. Oh yes, now this is a team we can all talk about. The New York Jets expected to pursue a veteran quarterback this all season. All right, here are the names Aaron Rodgers, Derek Carr, and Jimmy Garoppolo. However, don't you know, don't get too concerned about Zach Wilson because according to the report right now, they do not intend. Intend is a key word to trade Zach. Okay. I think there's a big mistake. It's a big mistake by Sala. Here's why. It's not that he struggled. It was bad in the locker room, it was bad in the press. There is a stink unfair, unfair, there's a stinker. Run. If I'm the Arizona Cardinals, this is who I go gap Kaymer Murray is not around the building. Zach Wilson with a fresh start, with a Brian with a with a good coach. Let's say he gets Kafka and he literally come back out west, mature a little bit. You don't have the New York media. I'll drive him to the airport. You've got a brand new head coach. Please, but this didn't work on like eight levels. It didn't work on a city level, a locker room level, a playing level. Get him out, let the kids start over. And I think Arizona is where you take him. I'm with you now, the art of negotiation. You gotta say this right. I don't intend to trade Zack Wilson. We'll call him. I don't intend to eat any girl Scout cookies after work today. I'm probably gonna eat a bunch. So the Jets are probably gonna end up trading Zach wish They cannot come out and say this right, probably, Yeah, but this didn't work on a million levels. Ye, So if you get Zach closer to home, okay, smaller media, lower expectations with a new coach, not a coach that has to win or he's out a lot of heat in New York right now, like Kasalo's gotta win some games. And now the GM has drafted great except that quarterback. And they don't know how to pick a quarterback. And you know that's the most important position in sport American sports. Yeah, I can't pick a quarterback. I don't know how good you are. J Mack with the news. Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the herd line news. It's okay. You just can't in this league if you make a mistake at quarterback and people much smarter than me have got to move off it. I feel like made a mistake, happens, We're done. Like Zach Wilson, it doesn't work football, it doesn't work city, it doesn't work locker room, it doesn't work with this offense. It just doesn't work. And by the way, you know, play inside, play out West. Give him an offensive coach. If Kafka gets the job, he gets an offensive coach. Refine him a little bit, no pressure because Kyler Murray can't play for eight or nine weeks. So it's his job. You're not battling Mike White or if they bring in Garoppolo or car You're not battling anybody. It's his job. Bring him in yours kid, Let's just be positive. Offensive coach arms around him. Kid, this is yours, your second chance in life. A lot of people don't. I think Zach Wilson could be a better version of what we saw. I just thought New York never. I don't love him, but it won't be that bad? How about that won't be that bad. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in newn Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio App. Hey, what's up everybody? It's me three time pro bowler Levarrington and I couldn't be more excited to announce a new podcast called up on Game? What is up on Game? You asked, along with my fellow pro bowler t J. Hudshmanzata and Super Bowl champion Yep, that's right, Plexico Burrus. You can only name a show with that type of talent on it. Up on Game We're going to be sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with Me LeVar Arrington, t J. Huschman Zatta and Plexico Birds on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast from New Year New Wireless plan go to consumer Cellular dot Com Slash The Herd twenty five bucks off the package you can change without changing your phone or number. Okay, so this story it's different. Okay, So I had some streak. I don't go on Twitter enough. Apparently there's a bunch of websites that track how often I talk Aaron Rodgers. I think it's funny if you watch. I don't care if you like so hate me regularly nine to twelve, nine to noon Pacific, Monday through Friday. So apparently there's a story. I thought I was gonna go to the day without talking about Aaron Rodgers, but this story just emerged. And Jason mcinty have never seen him cry before, but he was laughing so hard he was crying. So just report the story that just came down today. I thought I was going to get through this show clean. No Aaron Rodgers topic. Yeah, we had a good topic set to the show. Yeah. And I got a text from a buddy with a screen grab saying, Aaron Rodgers one on the Pat McAfee show today as he does on YouTube. And Aaron Rodgers said he's going to be going on a darkness retreat in a couple of weeks. I've never heard of that, Okay, so instantly I'm intrigued with a darkness retreat. According to Rodgers, it's four days complete darkness, just himself in a little house. Aaron Rodgers his quote on the Pat McAfee YouTube show. I've had a number of friends who've done it, and they've had profound experiences. He expects to make some sort of decision after that, maybe about his football future, whether he demands a trade. I'm gonna stay in Green Bay. So I was just poking around on the internet. Have you ever heard of a darkness retreat? I have not, but I've never done ayahuashka. And I saw that crew that Aaron was hanging out with. I saw a picture of blue Ivy was it was a narcissism retreat. But be that as it may, it was a collection of interesting people according to the Internet, which is never wrong. A darkness retreat is like a spiritual journey. A lot of Yogis and Buddhists do it right, and you're training for I don't know what, and adding discipline to your life, and I start thinking a darkness retreat, like, what is er? We've talked about this wanderer. Yeah, he is searching for something. Yeah, ayahuasca drug is supposed to help you see some clarity. What is he so unclear about? I don't know he I you know, I don't know. So he's a single, rich guy, and it does feel like some would argue he's getting a little kukier, a little well every many other quarterbacks have talked openly about doing Iowa going on a darkness. Shouldn't we appreciate his authenticity? Oh? I love it? Great for content, right yeah, I mean I like that he's willing to talk about stuff. Um, it's not terribly related. But he's rich and single and doesn't care. He doesn't have kids, where sometimes in life I would not necessarily do something thinking how would that land for my kids? He didn't have to worry about that. He's not terribly close with his family. According to multiple reports, they've called him out so like he Aaron is loyal to his friends. That is a large part of his connectivity Joe Rogan in those things. Well, whoever it is, he's not terribly close. It sounds like to his family. He's not married, no kids, So Aaron lives at an Aaron bubble. He's not close with many of his teammates, right, well, we don't know that he could be. No, no, no, no, no no no. They've talked the Romeo Dobbs and these guys talked about I don't hang out with him outside of this thing. Well, the young guys he can't really connect with. Okay, well, do you think twenty five year olds are going on darkness retreats? Well, no, So Aaron, as you get old and rich and you're not married, no kids, you're not a lot of sacrifices. Also, the packers don't have an owner, there's nobody to answer too. He's got far more power than Matt Lafleur or Goudenkoun's. So he lives in a world where Aaron makes decision based on what Aaron wants to do. And so I think he's being authentic to who Aaron is at this stage in his life. He's seeking and I get answers all the time. They're from my wife. Aaron doesn't have that relationship. So yeah, I think he's I think sometimes as you get older, you're single, you're wealthy, you don't need a lot of other people. You are searching for things. I don't think it's a bad thing. It feels a little like a Hollywood thing. Yes, it's very interest a lot of his friends or Hollywood people and music people. Yeah, you start last week, remember we talked about fun friend, fun guy who wants to go to Vegas and you know, three am. He's like, Oh, let's at the You know, what is Aaron Rodgers? What guy is he in your crew? Do you have anyone of that ilk who is way into ayahuasca and has ever mentioned well darkness. There's an old joke about Hollywood people that moved to Hollywood just thought they were too good for their hometown. Sometimes I think Aaron would would be kind of the friend that connected on his terms, not readily available. He's available when he wants to be available. Sometimes sort of vanishes from the circle. But that's okay. Everybody's different. There's there that that friend can be, uh, you know, can be a very valuable friend. I don't I don't want to get too deep into why he's doing this. He did say, according to this story, that he would have an answer after this. I don't think I would like being in a small cabin by myself for four days. I need my dogs. And it's not just a small cabin. It's dark, ye I can I could hang out for a couple of days and if I got like a good movie and I could read. There's none of that in the Darkness Retreat. There's no TV in books, You're just sitting there in darkness. Now, I'm not I'm not willing to do that. I'm not willing to do that for an hour. Now. I've got a problem. I am working on, trying to meditate more. That apparently is really I do that once in a while. Yeah, I like that. What's a heck of a way to end the show. We're gonna go into total darkness. I bet you with this tomorrow, I bet you you do. I'm unpack it a little bit. It's third