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- [00:00]
Danny Parkins
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:04]
Nick Wright
Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One Bank Guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Oh really? Thanks Capital One Bank Guy. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capital1.com Bank Capital One NA Member FDIC okay, have you heard about this? Last year, Degree changed the formula for their Cool Rush deodorant and their fans rebelled and wanted the old scent back. And Degree listened. That doesn't happen often. They admitted they effed up and they're bringing back the original Cool Rush scent. They're bringing it back and it's exactly how you remember it. Cool, crisp and fresh. There's a reason it's the number one men's antiperspirant and it's back in Walmart, Target and other stores now for under four bucks. So try and see what the fuss is about. Head to your local Walmart or Target to try the OG Degree Cool Rush for yourself. Wasabi Technologies is purpose built to free businesses from skyrocketing storage costs and unpredictable egress fees from those old and top heavy legacy providers. You know the big guys. Wasabi is the go to provider for professional and collegiate sports teams around the world. From Wasabi's AI enabled intelligent media storage, Wasabi Air to the industry's only cloud storage service with triple protection against cyber criminals, Wasabi is driving innovation in data storage, all for up to 80% less than the other guys. Triumph for free@wasabi.com Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage proud partner of the Volume Podcast Network. All right folks, this is insane. For the first time ever, we got a full blown all women's boxing mega event going down in New York City. Two title fights same night. Let's go. If you're like me and Love the action, DraftKings Sportsbook is where it's at. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app right now. The promo code is heard H E R D New Customers 150 bucks in bonus bets instantly. When you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings, the crown is yours.
- [02:20]
Danny Parkins
Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York. Call 877-8-HOPENY or text hopeny467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. 21 plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void. In Ontario, bonus bets expire issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG Co audio.
- [02:51]
Nick Wright
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and noon to 3 Eastern, 9am to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd@foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
- [03:11]
Danny Parkins
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Welcome in. It's the Herd. I'm Danny Parkins in for the great Colin Cowherd. They let me come back. They said it burned the place down completely yesterday. Schedule is that I'll be in tomorrow as well, but we'll see how the next three hours goes. Appreciate you watching. Appreciate you listening. We got a great show for you. AJ Persinski gonna join us in about 25 minutes. Jeff Schwartz, Ben Bolin, and my guy Nick, WR. Nick will maybe admit to being wrong in a sports conversation for the first time ever coming up in just over an hour, though probably not. I will defend my ranking of Justin Herbert in just a few minutes. But I'd like to begin by talking about the biggest boomer bust team in the NFL this year, and that is the Pittsburgh Steelers. Because, man, I get why they made the move, but I right off the top, I'm gonna make a confession. If I give the Steelers the vote of confidence, and I am, I like what they've done this off season. It's actually made sense to me. I have to also admit to you, for the last four years, consecutively I have predicted that the Steelers would have their first losing season under Mike Tomlinson. And I've been wrong time and time and time and time again. So now I'm like, I think this is a playoff team. I think this team could win a playoff game. I think Aaron Rodgers is a little cuckoo, but he's objectively better than Mason Rudolph and Kenny Pickett and Duck Hodges and Mitch Trubisky. Like I agree with the conventional wisdom, if Mike Tomlin can get you a winning record with those quarterbacks, he should be able to do better with Aaron Rodgers. But I think that's just the tip of the iceberg here. I thought that when he signed that contract and it was a weird number, he signed for 13 million bucks, I was like, there's more coming. They're not done and then they made the huge trade with Ramsey and John who Smith and they upgraded their squad. And I think the John who Smith, while not the sexier name, that is the move that really does create some versatility for their offense. DK Metcalf True. Number one. Play your 12 personnel with your two tight ends. With Friar, Muth and John who Smith on the field, they can block for Aaron because I don't know if you've heard he's on the wrong side of 40. Jalen Warren I actually think is an upgrade in the backfield from Najee Harris. I think that there is a real opportunity here for this offense to be good. They won't be top five in the NFL, but a good offense. And then when you combine that with, we know all of the talent they have on defense and the excellent regular season coaching that they get, I think it made a lot of sense. But we all would agree also that it's Boomer bust. And it feels like based on what Aaron Rodgers has said, this is a one shot deal, one year contract. He's a mercenary. He got married. He says when I'm done with football, you'll never see or hear from me again. I have my doubts. The guy said he loves privacy and then invited a documentary crew with him into the wilderness. So I got my doubts. But we'll see. And as for now, it seems like a one year hired gun situation. The Steelers general manager Omar Khan was on with Rich Eisen. He was asked about it. He said it might be a little more than that.
- [07:04]
Colin Cowherd
Obviously, you know, we have to see how the season goes, but absolutely, you know, he's, He's a young 41 and you know, we're obviously taking it year.
- [07:13]
Danny Parkins
By year and that's where we're at. So I assume this is a one year deal. And my question though is let's say I'm wrong again about the Steelers and they're not as good as they clearly think they can be. Because you only do this if you think you can end you're going on nine year playoff drought without a playoff win. That's the only reason you sign up for the circus that is Aaron Rodgers, for the appearances, for the off season, for the three month holding pattern, for all of it. Right. Because you believe your team is ready to win multiple playoff games in January and this is the missing piece. It's the only reason you sign up for the circus if they're wrong. And then I guess if I'm wrong and this is the first losing season under Mike Tomlin and it is like the jets season last year and they win six, seven games are non competitive against good teams. Aaron Rodgers is not even a top 15 or 20 quarterback in the NFL. Is there any scenario where the heat shifts to Mike Tomlin? And I'm not saying they're going to fire him because clearly the Steelers don't fire anyone. It's maybe the single most unbelievable fact in all of football that in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers they've had three head coaches. It's remarkable. But if I just told you that a head coach, it had been eight seasons since they had won a playoff game and in that time they were oh and five in the postseason. And in that time he had had five offensive coordinators and eight different starting quarterbacks. And as the defensive coach in those playoff games he's given up 40 plus to Blake Bortles and Baker Mayfield and getting boat raced by Patrick Mahomes. And it's like, oh my God, some of these are great quarterbacks, some of these are not. Some of these you were favored, some of these you weren't. You're a 13 win team, you get bounced immediately in the postseason. Any other coach in any other organization would be on the hot seat. And again they won't fire him. But if it doesn't work with Rogers and Tomlin becomes more of the reputation of high floor, low ceiling. He can only win big if he has a Hall of Fame quarterback in his prime. They're always going to be too good to draft one because he will have you at eight or nine wins as a floor. So what is his path to getting Drew Aller or Arch Manning or a top five picket quarterback? And they'll just be in this middle purgatory space in the NFL with nowhere to go from here. So I think this is going to work. And they'll win 10, 11 games, maybe win a playoff game. Like that's my definition of working. They're not a Super bowl team. I don't think that they have that high of a ceiling. But I think they're a double digit win team that can win one playoff game and end that drought. But then the question is and then what? Because the whole thing is the standard is the standard. Excellence is the standard. Ten wins and a wilds card win is not excellence. And then they're still in the exact same situation they found themselves in coming out of last year with no long term answer at quarterback. So while I expect success, the much more interesting questions is what happens if there's failure? The pushback I got yesterday from my top 10 quarterback list was mostly from Eagles fans who are upset and I respect it and love it and it's a passionate fan base, but it was also centered around my guy, Justin Herbert. And I will fully admit to you that I sit down on my couch on Sundays and I just watch 11 straight hours of football and then I watch Monday night and Thursday night and I watch all these games and then I rewatch them and all that and I come from it from more of the analytical and numbers side. But then I just actually love watching the games. I don't fancy myself a scout, anything like that, but I will say Justin Herbert passes the eye test as much as any quarterback I've ever seen. I am just so utterly convinced that this dude is a superstar and that he has been the victim of Anthony Lynn and Brandon Staley and bad special teams misses and incompetence and terrible injury luck around him and two bad playoff games, one terrible comeback allowed by the Jaguars and then last year the four interceptions against the Texans. Can't sugarcoat it though. Two of those interceptions were off his receivers hands and there was a bit of a snowball effect there. But I watch this guy and I am just convinced that he's one of the best players in football and if he was just in a better situation everybody would know that and it would become conventional wisdom. And now they hire a true winner in Jim Harbaugh last year. Justin Herbert has over 500 pass attempts, which was down because Harbaugh likes to run the ball. But he had over 500 pass attempts and three interceptions. He had more interceptions in that one playoff loss than he had all season. It was a true outlier, worst case scenario performance. And so I'm trusting my eyes on this one and a belief in Harbaugh. They were the number one scoring defense last year. They draft Hampton, they're going to upgrade the rushing attack. I love the pick of Trey Harris, the deep threat speedster form on the outside. McConkey's a stud, arguably the best tackle duo in the NFL outside of Philadelphia. Detroit might have something to say about it, but it's a top three tackle duo in the NFL at a minimum. This is the year and this is the year for what you say. This is the year for Justin Herbert to stay on the Peyton Manning track. Peyton Manning was in a bit of the wilderness early in his career. Different coaches, a bunch of interceptions, no playoff success. And if you study it, and I know some people will say different era of the NFL in terms of volume of Passing. And that is true. But again, a guy in Peyton who clearly passed the eye test but didn't have the team success early on in his career. If you look at years one through five of Peyton and years one through five of Justin Herbert, it is shocking how identical it is. Herbert 41 and 38, win loss record. Peyton 42 and 38, both of them winless in the playoffs. Herbert Owen two through five years, Manning Owen three. Their team scored 24 points per game. They threw basically the same number of touchdown passes, 137 to 138 through five years in their career. And again, I understand more passing in today's football than then. But the playoff numbers were also remarkably similar in terms of the types of struggles. More interceptions than touchdowns, lower passer rating, lower completion percentage in the playoffs versus the regular season. But in year five, Peyton got Dungey. In year five, Herbert got Harbaugh and things started to change. And in year six for Peyton, he's co MVP of the league, he's in the AFC championship game, he's, you know, 4200 yards, they're scoring 28 points per game. It was the arrival of the Peyton Manning that became one of the greatest to ever throw a football. And I will be holding Justin Herbert to that standard. This is the last stand because I fully acknowledge at some point the results need to be there in terms of team success. But I am as convinced today as I was after his rookie year when he set the NFL record for touchdown passes as a rookie with 31. This is a Hall of Fame level talent. And I thought what Jim Harbaugh said over the weekend is how I felt about the entire Chargers organization ever since they lucked into Miami drafting Chua over him. The rest of you got to catch up to that guy.
- [16:24]
Colin Cowherd
This is from the heart.
- [16:24]
Danny Parkins
This is the truth. Justin Herbert's biggest weakness is all of all of those that he's counting on, on offense, coaches, offensive line, playmakers, receivers, running backs to get up to his level. You know, that's, that's, that's. I wake up every day to try to get to his level. So if you, you put us as the, as the number one duel, I mean it's 99, 90, 90. Justin, 10, 10, me. Amen. Amen. Peyton Manning was the system. He went to four Super Bowls with four different head coaches. That was what it was. He got to a place where he had such dominance and such control of the game that wherever he went, he was the system. I think Justin Herbert can do that and is on his way to doing that. And if the rest of the Chargers, which I expect them to under Harbaugh, catch up to him just a bit, don't put the shackles on him. Let him throw, work off your run game, work off your defense and let that guy be one of the best throwers of the football that I've ever seen. I think he's absolutely in the running for the mvp and I think they're absolutely in the running to win playoff games this year, even being in the division with the Kansas City Chiefs. I expect Justin Herbert to stay on the Peyton Manning track by the end of this football season. AJ Prazinski going to join us coming up in about 10 minutes. Luka Doncic is looking good, there is no doubt about it. We saw the pictures yesterday on the show, but my God, some of you are overreacting and going just a little nuts. That's next on the Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartRadio app.
- [18:17]
Nick Wright
Hey, we're Covino and Rich, Fox Sports.
- [18:20]
Danny Parkins
Radio every day 5 to 7pm Eastern. But here's the thing. We never have enough time to get to everything we want to get to. And that's why we have a brand new podcast called Over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in our two hour show. We never get to everything honestly because this guy is over promising things we never have time for. Yeah, you blubber lips, blaming me. Well, you know what it's called Over Promise. You should be good at it because you've been over promising women for years. Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show and we want you to be a part of it. We're gonna be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk life and relationships.
- [18:52]
Nick Wright
And if Rich and I are arguing.
- [18:54]
Danny Parkins
About something or we didn't have enough time, it will continue on our after show called Over Promised. Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make sure you check out Over Promised and also uncensored, by the way, so maybe we'll go at it.
- [19:05]
Nick Wright
Even a little harder.
- [19:06]
Danny Parkins
It's going to be the best after show podcast of all time. There you go, Overpromising. And remember, you could see it on YouTube. But definitely. Join us. Listen to Over Promised with Covino and rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [19:20]
Nick Wright
Everybody loves a good MVP story. And the story of Wasabi Technologies is one of the best Wasabi is purpose built to free businesses from skyrocketing storage costs and unpredictable egress fees from old and top heavy legacy providers. You know the big guys Wasabi is the world's hottest cloud storage company, becoming the go to provider for professional and collegiate sports teams and leagues around the world. And here's why. From Wasabi's AI enabled intelligent media storage, Wasabi Air to the industry's only cloud storage service with triple protection against cybercriminals, data deletion and ransomware, Wasabi has taken the lead in driving innovation in data storage, eliminating overhead where it matters to deliver you results you can count on and won't break the bank. In fact, Wasabi is up to 80% less than those other guys and doesn't charge a cent for businesses to access their own data. Wasabi another championship story. Check them out for free@wasabi.com, wasabi Hot Cloud Storage Proud partner of the Voluum Podcast network Foreign.
- [20:28]
Danny Parkins
Welcome back to the Herd. I'm Danny Parkins in for Colin. Ranked my top 10 NFL teams heading into the season coming up in just over 20 minutes. Then Nick Wright will join the show from First Things First. Very much looking forward to doing that and looking forward to joining First Things first as they expand to three hours coming up this football season. But yesterday I think it showed the power of the Lakers and the power of late July that a magazine cover could come out that is straight PR and everyone would go insane. Like Luka Doncic was on the COVID of Men's Health. And Luka Doncic looks shredded. He looks like skinny Luca. And you put those pictures up and we've seen him a little bit this offseason. We saw him with the Yankees. We've seen him out and about a little bit. He's like, oh, Luka Doncic figured out what a barbell was. He learned about intermittent fasting. He apparently is drinking less and smoking less hookah. And you know, being a professional athlete and all of a sudden it's oh my God, professional athlete works out in the off season. And I guess I didn't fully realize that in a year where Luca was traded in arguably the craziest trade in NBA history, when he had a significant calf strain that is often a precursor if you do not fully heal it, to blowing out your Achilles, see Tyrese Halliburton. And he took his time coming back from that and it had an impact on his conditioning appearance. All of those things. I feel like people forgot who Luka Doncic was like Luca is awesome and I love Chris Broussard and I can't wait to chop it up with him. More on the regular on first things first, but when we had him on the herd yesterday, you would have thought that Luka Doncic was reborn based on these pictures. When I saw this article, saw how.
- [22:46]
Colin Cowherd
Luca looked, read it about, you know.
- [22:48]
Danny Parkins
How he's changed and this summer's different for him. I gave a big shout out to LeBron James like this. This is a testament to LeBron James example and the impact it had on Luka Doncic. I think he played with LeBron and saw as much physical ability as LeBron has, as much natural ability, as much size and strength and athleticism as LeBron has. Naturally, he goes above and beyond to become the player he is, even though Luka didn't say that in the article. And maybe this is a little media insight, but getting a magazine cover, it's not that difficult for a list superstar athletes and celebrities. Like, this was a puff piece. This was the superstar athlete equivalent of like, you ever break up with someone and then hit the weights because you want to have that revenge look, be, you know, new Year, new me. Luca got dissed by the Mavericks. They leaked a bunch of stuff to the media about his professionalism and he's putting this out there to show them what they missed. This is the superstar athlete equivalent of getting dumped, working out and then posting a shirtless pic with pecs and biceps on Instagram. Something I would know nothing about. Not because I've never been dumped, but because I have no biceps or pecs. But the point is this. The point is people forget that Luka Doncic, I mean, people act like the guy doesn't play basketball. Before last year, 70 games played, 66 games played, 65 games played, 66 games, 61, 72. Plus his international schedule. Luka Doncic plays basketball a lot. Really? Oh, now that Luka Doncic is intermittent fasting and doing bicep curls, I'm going to bet him for mvp. Luca was already a really safe favorite type of bet for mvp. We saw him two seasons ago carry the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA finals. We have seen him average 34, 9 and 10 in a season two years ago. Like, list of best players in the NBA. Whatever your order is. Yokich, SGA, Giannis Tatum, Luca. Like, I know LeBron was sixth in MVP voting. I know Donovan Mitchell was first team all NBA. But Luca didn't play in enough games to qualify. He was traded in the middle of the season. He had the Calf injury was weird year. But I think most people would agree that Luka Doncic is in the conversation for being a top five player in the world. So good for the professional athlete working out in the off season, maybe he'll start a little faster, but he's not going to get like better at defense. And I don't think it's possible for him to get much better at basketball than averaging 33, 9 and 10. So I'm just a little confused as to what we're talking about here. I. It's pr, it's spin, it's image control, it's damage control. It's. It does it, it, it doesn't have to be anything more than that. And I am just, I expect even if Luka Doncic, I would have seen him at the hookah bar if that would have been the thing. If he would have been on the COVID of instead of Men's Health, he would have been on the COVID of Hookah Magazine. I would be like, man, Luca could win MVP next year because he's Luka Doncic. That the talent is enough where he can win mvp. But Men's Health is apparently supposed to. I didn't know. I didn't know being on the COVID of Men's Health was supposed to change the way that we all felt about one of the five greatest offensive players in the sport and arguably one of the five greatest all, all around players in the sport because he's doing bicep curls and shoving all of his meals into eight hours a day. But I'm learning things as we go throughout this life. I wanted to change gears here a little bit and talk about and honor the life of, of Ryan Sandberg, the Hall of Famer from the Chicago Cubs who passed away yesterday at 65 years old. And I knew Rhino a bit and I'll tell you my connection to him in a second. But he was a larger than life figure in Chicago. He was the reason why many, many people in Chicago and frankly around the world became Cubs fans. When he won his MVP award in 1984, the Cubs had not been to the playoffs in 39 years. And so he wins that MVP. They're on WGN, the superstation, and people are watching Wrigley Fields come to life. And this incredibly professional ball player, it's a cliche. Play the game the right way. He was just a model of consistency. And he was, he was a humble superstar. And people say, never meet your heroes. I was a little young for Ryan Sandberg to be a sports hero of mine. But my older brother was significant, 16 years older than me, and he actually married someone whose father was very close with Ryan Sandberg. And so when I was the best man in my brother's wedding, at 15 years old, Ryan Sandberg was at the wedding. And so I gave a best man speech at the wedding, and I didn't talk to Ryan Sandberg about it at the wedding. But many years later, when I'm doing media in Chicago and Rhino would come on the show and he was a Cubs ambassador, and he would do things. He would say, you know, Margaret really liked your toast. Margaret was his wife. And I'd be like, well, what about you, Rhino? And he was like, margaret really liked your toast. Like, he just had this subtle ability. People who knew him better said he was a prankster. He didn't really give off the hilarious image too much publicly, but if you knew him a little bit, he would. But the thing about him was he just loved being a Cub and he loved Cubs fans. And so people would come up to him all the time and pay him a compliment. And he would always give them the time of the day, ask them their name, ask them about him. And I went back and yeah, so this picture that we're showing now on FS1, it was crazy, because about this time last year, Ryan Sandberg came on the radio because I do this cancer event in partnership with the Cubs called Cubs for a Cure, where I broadcast for 24 hours straight. It's coming up in two days on Thursday on the Score in Chicago. And Ryan Sandberg came in because we knew he had been battling cancer. And he very emotionally announced that just that morning, he had had a scan that was clear. And his doctor said he was cancer free. And he cried. And it made national news. And we raised over a million dollars that weekend with all of it going to cancer research. And we took that picture. That's the president of business for the Cubs, Crane Kenny, with us on the field. And it was just this, like, beautiful celebration. And then 11 months later, he passes away from cancer. And it was just. It was gut wrenching because people, when they talk about him, if you didn't know him, you talk about the Sandberg game. Bob Costa says it was the best baseball game he ever called. And it was unbelievable. You know, he hits two home runs in the ninth and 10th off Bruce Suter. And you know, the Cubs win 12, 11. And extras and people talk about 10 time All Star, nine time Gold Gloves, Silver Slugger, MVP, whatever it is, when they say, never meet your heroes. And then he actually is to so many a sports hero and he's everything you want and more. It's just rare. So I wanted to play a quick bite from his hall of Fame speech because I really think it encompassed how he approached the game, but really how he approached life. Here's Rhino I was taught you never ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or or your manager. And never ever your uniform. Make a great play, act like you've done it before, Get a big hit.
- [32:05]
Colin Cowherd
Look for the third base coach and.
- [32:07]
Nick Wright
Get ready to run the bases, hit.
- [32:10]
Danny Parkins
A home run, put your head down, drop the bat, run around the bases.
- [32:16]
Nick Wright
Because the name on the front is a lot more important than than the.
- [32:19]
Danny Parkins
Name on the back. That's respect. I had an opportunity to talk to Ryan Sandberg on the radio when it had been announced that he was getting a statue at Wrigley Field. And what was the position going to be? Was it going to be hitting a home run from the Sandberg game? Was it going to be him turning a double play that he was famous for? And he said he thought it was going to be more about defense and it ended up just being him in the ready position because he just wanted to be ready to be a pro. And that encompassed who he was. He crossed over, he cut through. He mattered to a lot of people. Barack Obama posted a tribute hall of Famer and Cub stalwart Ryan Sandberg wasn't just a great baseball player, he was a class act who never cheated the game. Everyone in Chicago, including White Sox fans, will miss him deeply. And it's so true. He was a humble superstar. He wanted to meet you. He wanted to talk to you. And he deserved so much more than 65 years of life. RIP Rhino be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific.
- [33:33]
Nick Wright
Everybody loves a good MVP story and the story of Wasabi Technologies is one of the best. Wasabi is purpose built to free businesses from skyrocketing storage costs and unpredictable egress fees from old and top heavy legacy providers. You know the big guys. Wasabi is the world's hottest cloud storage company, becoming the go to provider for professional and collegiate sports teams and leagues around the world. And here's why. From Wasabi's AI enabled intelligent media storage, Wasabi Air to the industry's only cloud storage service with triple protection against cyber criminals, data deletion and ransomware, Wasabi has taken the lead in driving innovation in data storage, eliminating overhead where it matters to deliver you results you can count on and won't break the bank. In fact, Wasabi is up to 80% less than those other guys and doesn't charge a cent for businesses to access their own data. Wasabi another championship story. Check them out for free@wasabi.com Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage proud partner of the Volume Podcast Network.
- [34:40]
Danny Parkins
Our number two of the herd. I'm Danny Parkins from FS1 and soon to be First Things first coming at you from la. I'll be in for Colin tomorrow from Chicago. We have Nick Wright of First Things first joining us for his normal appearance coming up in just a couple of minutes, which is truly surreal, I would say for both of us given that the first time we ever hosted together was doing a Syracuse Providence basketball post game show on WAER and college radio. So we'll have some fun coming up in about five minutes where I assume Nick will just agree with every brilliant thing that I say and we'll keep it moving or not. But before, before we get to Nick, we will begin with my top 10 teams heading in to the upcoming football season. Because if not now, when? And we'll see if maybe feel a little better. Number 10, the Chargers of Los Angeles. You know what I think of Justin Herbert. You know what everyone thinks of Jim Harbaugh. Did you know they were the number one scoring defense in the NFL last year? If they just get a little bit more explosive on offense and I think Hampton and Harris, their two draft picks will help and year two under Harbaugh will help they take the leap offensively. They get a little bit of health luck which every team needs. The Chargers, I expect them back in the playoffs and maybe they'd be rising up this list over the course of the season. Number nine, the Washington Commanders. I think better team, worse record, nine one score victories last season. Jaden Daniels is a superstar. I like the Tunsil edition. We'll see about Deebo and how he fits. I don't know if you can win that many close games again, but I think they got the right coach, the right quarterback. Obviously a tough division with Philly and Dallas will be better. I think they're a better roster and a worse team. Number eight, the San Francisco 49ers. It's time to bounce back. Brock Purdy to me should not be quite as polarizing as people make him out to be, but he actually impressed me when he lost some of the stuff around it. He's not a superstar, he's not a top 10 quarterback. But in Kyle Shanahan's offense. He's got good post snap processing. He can get the ball out quick and I think that's enough. Assuming the rest of their stars stay healthy, Kittle, Trent Williams and namely Christian McCaffrey, who's the key to everything and frankly a cheat code in Kyle Shanahan's offense. Number seven, just be competent on defense. Cincinnati Bengals, your offense is super bowl caliber. You went three and four in games where you scored 30 or more points last year. Figure it out with Hendrickson. Have Shemar Stewart hit you upgraded at defensive coordinator because you just had to in the super bowl era for teams that lost five or more games. The Cincinnati Bengals most points per game in losses any team. They scored 28 points per game in their losses last year. Just be the 20th best defense in the NFL and you'll be fine. Number six. I can't quit this Rams team. I think them and the Niners and going to be a great battle all year long. Offensive line, health concerns me. Stafford's a stud. McVeigh's a stud. The Devonte Adams ad is great and Fisk and Verse. They didn't have a first round pick this year, but their draft hit tremendously last year. If either they're the linebacker or the tight end, they hit in the second and third round. If they can just add one more piece. They were the team that gave Philly the best challenge really the last four and a half months of football. I think they're right there as a contender. Number five. Maybe this is too low, but it's the Baltimore Ravens. It was a historic offense last year when you combine running and passing, but their inability to get it done consistently in January, once you get up to this level concerns me from the quarterback on down. But this team has a legitimate argument for being the best roster in the NFL. Hopefully for Ravens fans, this is the year they break through. Number four. But I still have the Bills in front of them both because of their playoff history. I happen to think Josh Allen is better than Lamar Jackson and they just have been bludgeoning people. It's the team with the best point differential in the NFL over a sample of five years and it's not close. You'd say, oh, I would assume that would be the Chiefs. The Chiefs are third. The Ravens are second. They've outscored opponents by 555 points in the last five years. The Bills have outscored their opponents by nearly 800 points the last five years. They're a regular season juggernaut. Can they break through in January? Number Three. Speaking of a team I can't quit. I think we were robbed of a Lions Eagles NFC championship game last year. The Detroit Lions come in at number three. Three. This offense should be electric. I think Ben Johnson was a bigger ad for the Bears than he was lost for the Lions. If they just had normal bad luck for health on defense, we would have seen them in the NFC championship game last year. They gave up 31 points per game their last six games of the year. Injuries caught up to them. Number two, the Kansas City Chiefs. Their defense is electric. They've got the best quarterback, they've got the best coach, they've got. They've improved their offensive line, especially if they can stay healthy. They now have a little depth. Rasheed Rice, Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy played zero snaps together last season. If the explosiveness can return to the Chiefs offense, I expect them back in the Super Bowl. Number one, the Philadelphia Eagles are the best organization with the best roster. My guess is Eagles fans will not be nearly as happy about this ranking as they were upset about the Jalen hurts ranking. But winning more than 17 games and rushing for more than 3,000 yards, it puts you in company with the 85 Bears, the 72 Dolphins, the 98 Broncos and last year's Eagles team. It's a tough combination and it's one that's going to win you a ton of football games. There's your top 10 teams heading in to this football season, which now allows us to be joined by my friend and now co worker and colleague at First Things First. First, Nick Wright.
- [41:04]
Colin Cowherd
Hey, buddy, what's up? How's it going?
- [41:07]
Danny Parkins
It's going well.
- [41:07]
Colin Cowherd
I really liked. I really liked your top 10 teams and I think it's really cool that you were able to just run back the exact 10 teams you loved last year. Just add the Washington to it. That's all your teams. Yes, every single one. You're doing the same thing everyone's doing. You know who's gonna be good? The teams that I thought were going to be good last year. This is your same list as a year ago at this time of year, plus Washington 100%.
- [41:35]
Danny Parkins
I did not have the Eagles at 1. I did not have the Eagles winning the division last year. I was very wrong about Dallas. So the number one team. You know, I'm going to honor the Super Bowl. I do have a lot of respect for the Bengals and the Niners to bounce back. You can admit it. It's a perfect list.
- [41:53]
Colin Cowherd
Okay, so let's talk about the two teams because I do find it interesting the two teams that weren't good last year that you think are going to be good this year because I have different teams. That and your total abandonment in faith of the Bears is a total topic for another day. Why will this season be different for the Bengals than last year? What's one reason?
- [42:18]
Danny Parkins
New defensive coordinator.
- [42:22]
Colin Cowherd
I don't know that it's an upgrade. I mean, I guess that's the hope. I just feel. I feel like the Bengals, I don't know how their offense can't be better than it was.
- [42:32]
Danny Parkins
That's right.
- [42:33]
Colin Cowherd
And so maybe it stays equal. I mean, you are more in the mainstream than I am on the Bengals this year because most people seem to think they're a real threat. Last year was an aberration. They'll get back to being a contender. Ish. But I don't see why I would believe that. I think the defense is maybe going to be worse than last year having with Trey Hendrickson not there right now. I don't know that they had an upgrade at D coordinator and the offense played basically perfectly last year. Like so I don't. I feel like the Bengals are doing have the exact same plan they had a year ago, except now the guys are more expensive and we're supposed to think that's going to make them better. I don't buy them for real.
- [43:18]
Danny Parkins
Well, listen, that, that if you score that many points historically, you're just supposed to be much better. I'm not saying that they're going to win the super bowl with a terrible defense, but if you've got a great offense, you're supposed to be a better team than last year. I figured your biggest beef was going to be with the Niners because of your just unrelenting, unflinching stance and hatred of Brock Purdy.
- [43:38]
Colin Cowherd
Well, it's not. Listen, it's not hatred, but I, you know, there are certain things. It's so interesting where. And I asked this question this morning on what's Right, the podcast, which is at what point does someone's like public perception shift from being a hater to being correctly skeptical? So the reason I did not buy into Brock Purdy when he nearly won MVP and got his team to overtime of the Super bowl in 2023 was very simple in that, you know what? I thought it was such a stacked team with such a brilliant play caller that I had real questions. What would he look like if some of those pieces chipped away? And then by the grace of the sports gods, we got to see exactly what he would look like if he didn't have all those weapons. And the team finished what, in last place in their division, second to last in their division, won six, seven games and now everyone's like just wants to pretend that didn't happen. And you are more optimistic about the Niners this year than I am. You're right about that because I thought they one of the reasons people and credit you for not being one of them it seems are buying into the Broncos so much is because of two Niners defenders that they took. The Niners defense lost massive personnel at each and every level. The wide receiver room right now is super banged up and they are desperately relying on Christian McCaffrey who's awesome but a huge injury risk and the oldest tackle in the league. And so a lot of folks rationale for the Niners is they won't be as injured as they were last year. And my answer is, well, they're not as deep as they were last year and I do think they are one of the more injury risk, you know, higher injury risk teams. So no, I'm not a Niners believer. For the second consecutive year with Kyle.
- [45:41]
Danny Parkins
Shanahan, Christian McCaffrey, when they play together, not the Kyle Shanahan plays, but when McCaffrey plays for Kyle Shanahan, you know what I'm saying, they win 75% of their games. They're 23 and 8. When McCaffrey is out, they're 8 and 12 and he's worth about four points per game. It feels to me like that coach with that player is a cheat code, which is why I am going to still believe in them. But if we're going to just react to my lists, I know you want to and I know we've done it on FtF, we've done it on your couch, we've done it via text and group chat. Explain to me why Justin Herbert isn't the fifth best quarterback in football. Because he passes my beautiful eye test.
- [46:22]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. I mean just because when you are as close to year 10 as you are your rookie year, when you're the same a college recruiting class as Nikki Bosa and the same draft class as Justin Jefferson, you have to be judged on what you've actually done, not what you theoretically could be and what you Justin Herbert sycophants and I think he's a good player. What you guys all refuse to admit is for most of you, three or four of the last five years you have gone into the season not just talking about how good Herbert is, but how good the team Is that's true. How dangerous the Chargers are, how stacked it is, and then the year ends, they're mediocre, he's bad in the big spot and everyone's like, he needs more help. He. And so in. You said it. Last year, they had the number one defense in the NFL. They had the good offensive line with the now the highest paid left tackle in football, Joe Alder, right tackle, a great coach. And he could not get out of his own way against a Texans team that was dying to be beaten.
- [47:39]
Danny Parkins
Interceptions, offense, guys, hands.
- [47:41]
Colin Cowherd
Nick, you're not kidding. You're not serious. You're not serious. He was awful. He was awful in that game.
- [47:48]
Danny Parkins
He was bad.
- [47:48]
Colin Cowherd
And here is to me. And I'm not, you know, known as a Jalen Hurts guy. But what I do think is fair is last year the Chargers asked Justin Herbert to be the quarterback that Jalen Hurts was for Philadelphia in 2022 when they made their first Super Bowl. We're going to run the ball, we're going to throw it sparingly, we're going to play great defense, don't turn it over and three or four times a game in the playoffs make big plays. And Jalen Hurts executed that exact playbook almost flawlessly to the tune of playing neck and neck to Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Justin Herbert was asked to do that and had one of the worst games of his life against the Texans. And folks just want to pretend it didn't happen. We've seen Herbert play in three either playoff or winner take all games because the Week 18 game against the Raiders couple or a few years ago and he has been bad in all three of them and he's five years into his career. I know he's talented, I know he throws a beautiful ball, but at some point it has to be about what you've actually accomplished. And even though I'm not the biggest Jalen Hurts guy in the world, having Herbert ahead of Hertz and Stafford is mortifying. And it makes you question, why do we actually play the games? Like, hold on, hold on real, real quick.
- [49:24]
Danny Parkins
If the trade was offered Jalen Hurts.
- [49:27]
Colin Cowherd
For Justin Herbert, the Eagles would say.
- [49:30]
Danny Parkins
No, you're out of your mind. You're out. You're out of your mind. The he. The guy is more talented. He would be able to hand the ball off to Saquon Barkley just like Jalen Hurts. And Instead of the one yard quarterback, they would just hand the ball to A.J. brown and Devonte Smith more.
- [49:49]
Colin Cowherd
Can. Can I ask you, Can I. Let's stay here then. Do you think if we're going to play in this make believe world that last year if Jalen Hurts was the Chargers quarterback, they would have beaten the Texans? Because I do if that Texas. Why no, hold on. Because the only. Because the only reason they lost was the four interceptions. Would they have Justin Herbert.
- [50:14]
Danny Parkins
That was an outlier terrible game. The guy threw over 500 passes in the regular season and had three interceptions.
- [50:19]
Colin Cowherd
Right. But, but Danny, that doesn't mean something. Danny, if you, if you went before you go back to the first time you were filling in for Colin.
- [50:31]
Danny Parkins
Oh, here we go.
- [50:32]
Colin Cowherd
You had never, if you had never dropped an F bomb in your entire the entire year of doing live radio and then, and then in the first hour of doing the Herd, you dropped three. Would that be bad luck or would that be ooh, the moment got to him.
- [50:50]
Danny Parkins
You got to work on your cowherd level analogies. That's not okay that's fine.
- [50:54]
Colin Cowherd
But you follow like the and so I don't agree with you that they now I do think that if you didn't have a team built yet like you were that's a different question with the Eagles. Trade Herbert for Hertz is a different question than I am starting a team from scratch. What player do I think is more malleable?
- [51:15]
Danny Parkins
Wait a minute though. Okay, but if we're doing a top 10 list, if every player was available to be drafted.
- [51:24]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
- [51:24]
Danny Parkins
32 general managers.
- [51:26]
Colin Cowherd
Justin Herbert fifth. But you certainly wouldn't take him fifth.
- [51:30]
Danny Parkins
You would take it before Jalen hurts.
- [51:32]
Colin Cowherd
Maybe maybe then he's better. But that's.
- [51:35]
Danny Parkins
Then he's better.
- [51:37]
Colin Cowherd
Okay, so he at some point again the accomplishment much must matter. That's first of all and second of all, you can't by that metric. Danny though who would you take ahead? I don't know if anybody would take him if we're talking about for long term would take him ahead of Jaden Daniels and if we're talking about for short term would take him ahead of Matt Stafford. So like you just love him. You'll never quit him. You've always loved him. And just the audience needs to know like for some reason you're a Justin Herbert guy. It's a weird, it's a weird thing, but it's fine.
- [52:10]
Danny Parkins
All right. Speaking of a guy who is one of your guys but I feel like he should be everybody's guy. Professional athlete works out in off season. I didn't know was worthy of a cover story. Like why are people rushing to bet Luka doncic for mvp. Like I've seen the guy carry a team to the NBA Finals and average 33, 9 and 10. He Already, I didn't, I didn't know that public opinion on him had slid so much that we were, that we were doubting Luka Doncic, that I needed to see him intermittent fast. I guess I missed that.
- [52:44]
Colin Cowherd
Oh, you're watching too many old Justin Herbert Oregon clips because that's where the whole media's been.
- [52:49]
Danny Parkins
That's insane.
- [52:52]
Colin Cowherd
Luka Doncic in The span of 10 months went from in like probably the first person named in the after Joker who's the best player in the league discussion to basically a past his prime fat alcoholic in the public eye. And it's really unbelievable. 12 months ago today not a person in the world thought Shay or Anthony Edwards was better than him. And then prior to this cover story it seemed like everyone had just decided Shea and Anthony Edwards were better than him. I Listen Luke, the amount of Luka had a down year. It coincided with the first major injury of his career. A truly I think traumatic event in being traded that shocked him and threw him off and he was, and he was out of shape. But it came on the heels of the best season regular and post of his life where as you mentioned he won the scoring title, averaged 34, 9 and 10. Single handedly led a team. Shouldn't say single handedly. Kyrie was good but you know, led a team to the NBA finals and, and made his fifth all NBA first team which for the record is more than Steph or Chris Paul have in their career and is only one less than Kevin freaking Durant who's been unbelievable for almost 20 years. That's how good Luka is. So I but I do think it's noteworthy that he took it to heart that last year he was a little out of shape. It didn't go the way he wanted to. And for the most notable part of that story other than the fake news about his 42 inch vertical was that the gym he has worked in every summer since he was a teenager did not have weights in it until this year. He just went there and bald and then so now he brought in weights. So I think that is good. And now listen, is there a bit of osmosis of spending a few months around LeBron and realizing he needs to get in shape? Probably, but I'll give Luca credit for it. Anyway.
- [55:01]
Danny Parkins
We've come a long way from Syracuse, Providence post game shows on WA my friend. I cannot believe that coming up but.
- [55:09]
Colin Cowherd
I think your takes were better than. I gotta tell you, I think we need to go back and get some of those tapes. Unless there was some lacrosse player who had never done anything in his five year college career and you're like, he's better than Gary Gates. I don't know. But. But yeah, I can't wait. It's going to be really cool to be working with you every day for the first time since, you know, in 20 years. It's going to be great. I'm going to love it. And it's going to be even more exciting when Herbert goes eight and nine and you're like. But actually he throws such a tight spiral.
- [55:40]
Danny Parkins
It is a very tight spiral. Nick Wright will be watching on First Things first. Thank you, my friend.
- [55:45]
Nick Wright
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- [56:17]
Danny Parkins
This is an I Heart podcast.