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- [00:00]
Angela Rye
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:04]
GoDaddy Advertiser
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- [01:06]
Manny
Why are TSA rules so confusing?
- [01:08]
Noah
You got a hoodie? You want to take it all?
- [01:10]
Manny
I'm Manny.
- [01:11]
Noah
I'm Noah. This is Devin.
- [01:13]
Manny
And we're best friends and journalists with a new podcast called no Such Thing, where we get to the bottom of questions like that.
- [01:19]
Jake Hofer
Why are you screaming at me?
- [01:21]
Manny
I can't expect what to do now if the rule was the same, go off on me. I deserve it, you know, Lock him up. Listen to no Such thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:33]
Jake Hofer
No Such thing. Who cares about truth when the lies more entertaining.
- [01:38]
Angela Rye
Welcome home. I'm Angela Ride, co host of the Native Lampod with Andrew Gillum and Tiffany Cross, and we want y' all to survive and thrive in this political moment.
- [01:46]
Noah
We're having the same debates that American.
- [01:47]
Jake Hofer
Households are having all over the country.
- [01:49]
Angela Rye
I am terrified that in our rest we're going to miss the moment. You want me to stop resting? What specifically are you asking me to do? Stand, stay informed and take action.
- [02:00]
Noah
Listen to Native land Pod on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [02:06]
Jake Hofer
I'm Jake Hofer and this is back 40, a limited series show on Wire to Hunt, part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network. Each episode I'll be asking eight whitetail hunting pros a focused, thought provoking question about hunting and land management. How do I hunt the best part of the farm with less than ideal access should you. That's what the real question is. Stand without good access is not a good stand. Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. 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. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. Welcome in to the Herd. I'm Danny Parkins in for Colin Cowherd. Always a thrill to be sitting in the big chair for Colin, who will be back soon because it's football season. We made it, though there still is plenty of drama. Taron Armstead will join us in just over 20 minutes. In an hour, I'm going to try to call Colin on the air to remind him that Caleb Williams is good. My guess is he won't pick up. We got a lot of things to do and starting Monday, we'll hear more about it later. The new expanded First Things first on FS1. I'm thrilled to tell you about it. I'll be on from five to six Eastern every single day, and if you've ever watched me or listen to me, you know that I don't love talking contracts because generally speaking, they all get done. But the preseason ends on Saturday, which means it becomes game week for all these teams, which means it's about to get real for contract talk. And I got to admit, even as someone who doesn't like talking money, I don't like the pocket watch aspect of it. And the vast majority of these guys ends up signing their deals. I have to admit that the television producer that doubles as the general manager of the Dallas Cowboys and the owner and apparently a star of a documentary, the documentary, by the way, pretty good. Jerry Jones. He's given us some tremendous color here on the Micah Parsons stalemate, negotiations impasse, and it's getting wildly, unnecessarily ugly in Dallas. But depending on your point of view, maybe that's exactly what Jerry Jones wants, because he's just here for the soap opera the Clicks, and we're feeding into it because here we are on the biggest show talking about the biggest story and the biggest team and their best defensive player who remains unsigned. So let's catch you up on it. Jerry Jones goes on Michael Irvin's YouTube show just yesterday. And he gives us a very colorful update on how the negotiations are going. We wanted to send the details to the agent. The agent told us to stick it up our ass. We had our agreements on term amount guarantees, everything. We were going to send it over to the agent, and the agent said, don't bother, because we've got all that to negotiate. Well, I'd already negotiated. I'd already moved off my mark on several areas. It's the mama daddy deal. You go into mama, and she won't do it, and she's the boss, so she won't do it. So you run into daddy. Daddy says do it. And then you go back in, say, mama, Daddy said it was all right. I don't think that Jerry Jones traffics in the world of embarrassment very often, but Jerry should be embarrassed. The agent in question is David Mologheta. David Mologhetta, through multiple media sources, has put out, basically, I'm not going to do any interviews, But I did not, nor did anybody with athletes first as agency tell Jerry Jones or the Cowboys to stick it in their ass, whatever. That didn't come up. So David Mulligetta is disputing the use of that colorful language. But let's just forget about the language there that Jerry is addressing here. Jerry Jones is saying that there is not room in the negotiation between the Dallas Cowboys and Micah Parsons for Micah Parsons agent. Now, I have an agent. I know most of you don't. You're lucky. That's the only reason we have agents, is to do the negotiation. It's the only reason we pay the Commission. Maybe it's 3%, maybe it's 1%, maybe it's 5%, maybe it's 10%, depending on the industry. For Micah Parsons, it's probably in the neighborhood of 1 or 2%. But the point is, he pays arguably the top agent in football a percentage of what will be the largest defensive contract in the history of the NFL to do the negotiation. Jerry did not stop there because I will get into where I think this actually ends up here in a minute. But allegations about colorful language. No room in the negotiation for Micah Parsons, his agent. Jerry did not stop on his media tour with the posturing of how he looks at the timeline to get a deal done with Micah Parsons. We really got three years to work this thing out. I did that with Dak, and we couldn't agree. So Dak played his last year of his contract, and then we franchised him. Of course, ultimately, we got a contract made. Dak the highest paid player in the NFL. So the president is handling it like Dak. But in this particular case, then Micah comes in and plays this year under his contract and then Dutton. It's very costly. Okay, so no one likes math on tv. But we'll just. Let's just go through some facts here for a second. Micah Parsons is set to make roughly 24 million bucks this year. So at the end of that, from the Michael Irvin show and Jerry Jones, look, if he doesn't, it's going to be very costly. Jerry Jones is 100% correct. Every game missed by Micah Parsons is roughly $1.3 million that Micah Parsons will not get paid. That's just money you can't earn back. So I think Micah Parsons is going to play Week 1 because I think he would rather play for $1.3 million than not play and get zero. It's a revolutionary thought. That's where I'm at. Then Jerry's saying, really takes three years. And he's right because there's this year. And then they could franchise tag Micah Parsons and then they could franchise tag Micah Parsons again for 120% of what he'd be due to make next year. Now the player would be unhappy and he's already demanded a trade and scrub the Cowboys from all the social media. And frankly, that's not good for the team to have a premium player locked into the salary cap because there's no flexibility. 100% of the dollars are guaranteed. You can't move it around for salary cap purposes, that sort of thing. But I absolutely believe Jerry Jones, that he talks to Micah Parsons about money, that he feels like he even moved off of his place. And I believe Jerry Jones that he is willing to make Micah Parsons the highest paid defensive player in football. But here's what I also believe, that that's not good enough. That if I was representing Micah Parsons, I wouldn't be saying, well, yeah, I just have to get a dollar more on the average annual value than T.J. watt, just over 41 million a year. Or I just got to get a dollar more than the largest guarantee ever for a defensive player. And Miles Garrett at 122 million a year because those guys are three plus years older than Micah Parsons. Micah Parsons is going to be the highest paid defensive player ever. The question is going to be by how much is he going to shatter the record for a non quarterback? Is he going to shatter the record for a defensive player? And there's no reason for you to get too deep in the weeds on who these agents are. But David Mologhetta is something of a cult like figure in NFL circles because he's the guy who got Deshaun Watson the fully guaranteed contract, the 100% of your money contract as being guaranteed. He's the new thing. He's the power broker in the NFL. He represents Jordan Love, C.J. stroud and a bunch of guys. But here's another way that I know that Jerry is not being totally truthful in this entire thing. There are other players on the Cowboys who are represented by David Mologhetta, who is Micah Parsons agent. So he's been able to get business done. So when he's talking about this agent wants to make a name for himself. This agent is trying to be the big third party in this deal. There's only room for two parties, me and Micah Parsons. He's done deals with Mulligetta's agency before. Malik Hooker is on his team this year. Signed. And Jerry Jones, I know he likes to say that he's the general manager and I know he carries the title of general manager, but no one believes that he's scouting the Senior bowl and grinding tape on fifth round prospects. He likes it for vanity. He likes it for ego. Do we really think that when Jake Ferguson signed his $52 million deal with Dallas, it was like Jerry Jones and Jake Ferguson drinking some Johnnie Walker Black and just haggling back and forth? I think it should be $12 million a year. No, I think it should be $14 million a year. No. The Cowboys negotiator dealt with the player's agent because that's how it works. So this is very old school. This is very. If you've watched any of the documentary, you know, good old boy from Arkansas comes into Texas, strikes it rich with an oil well, buys the Dallas Cowboys. He bought the Dallas Cowboys for $140 million. He's probably going to have to give Micah Parsons more than $140 million. So he got the team for 140 million. He's about to give a player more than 140 million. Jerry Jones is living in the stone Ages. He's living back in the 80s. It's just not how it's done anymore. And so ultimately this is all posturing. And I believe that Micah Parsons will be unhappy. I thought the Post with the Allen Iverson quotes and the waving goodbye and the scrubbing of the social media, frankly, I thought he was a little late. That's like a millennial playbook 101. You scrub the social media, you make it like, oh yeah, I'm real serious. I'm real serious about this trade. I'm real serious about sending out games. Chris Jones set out a game 1 guys don't sit out games anymore. There's too much money at stake. This isn't even the Emmett Smith thing from back in the early 90s where he misses a couple of games, signs the deal and then the Cowboys go on to win the Super Bowl. There's just too much money. These deals get done. So I will stay where I've been for months on this, that this is publicity for a new season. This is publicity for a documentary and deadlines make deals. And we saw with Dak Prescott, as referenced by Jerry Jones, the deadline was the opener when he signed that deal. I expect Micah Parsons to be playing against Philadelphia and this is just a lot of noise, embarrassing noise, but noise all the same. Which brings us to the other unsigned contracts here because it's a I will admit this is a unique NFL off season and that we have three A list tier one players who are still unsigned. Terry McLaurin in Washington, Trey Hendrickson in Cincinnati, and of course as discussed, Micah Parsons in Dallas. Now, I don't think Dallas is a Super bowl contender, but they do. Washington obviously think it's a Super bowl contender. They were in the NFC Championship game last year. They had Laramie Tunsil. They add Deebo Samuel and Cincinnati knows that they've got a Super bowl caliber offense and they scored enough points last year to be a 12 or a 13 win team. But they only scored nine because their defense was historically bad. I mean the Bengals were had a losing record. They were 3 and 4 in games where they scored 30 or more points. So we'll just go through these. I think Terry McLaurin signs in the next 72 hours. Generally speaking, preseason will end on Saturday. They'll revisit the big picture stuff. It'll be game week and it'll really be like the game two weeks. Because with now three preseason games, there's more time between the end of preseason and the start of the opener. I just don't believe that a player who has been as consistently productive for Washington when they had no one at quarterback is going to let them have a superstar quarterback on a rookie deal and not get it done with his number one receiver. Do I think Terry McLaurin is as good as A.J. brown? No. But it doesn't matter. He's really, really good. The guy who signs the deal the most recently always gets a little bump because the salary cap goes up. So I will be shocked if Washington takes the field week one and Terry McLaurin isn't there. That one is in the as close to 100% as I can make it. Jaden Daniels just came out and said he thought it was going to get done. This one's going to get done. Next confident would be Trey Hendrickson in Cincinnati. I know it's Cincinnati. I know they're historically cheap, but they got Joe Burrow. They paid him. They have T. Higgins. They paid him. They have Jamar Chase. They paid him. They changed defensive coordinators. They used three of their first four picks on defensive players. Apparently they've agreed on how much money per year and how long the deal is going to be. They haven't agreed to the biggest part of the deal, which is the guaranteed money. Reports are that Trey Hendrickson wants three years guaranteed. Bengals only want to do one year guaranteed. My guess is they settle on about two years guaranteed. Trey Hendrickson has led. He's been what, 17 sacks? Led NFL in sacks last year? Been 17 sacks each of the last two years. Yes, he's 30, but two years of guaranteed money feels like a reasonable place. And I can't imagine looking Joe Burrow in the eye and being like, hey, remember last year when you would score 30 regularly and we would lose? We want you to do that again. My guess is Hendrickson gets done and then that leaves Micah again. I think it works out. I think they get it done. I don't think he's going to be in the business of giving back $1.3 million per year. But at some point, Jerry Jones is going to have to do what apparently Jerry Jones doesn't want to do, which is talk to Micah Parsons legal representation. This is all noise. It's all unnecessary. It's all unbecoming. All but given that we are still in the season where the games don't count, it is fodder. And at least we know for Jerry, not for the 31 other teams. Like I don't think anything about the Terry McLaurin contract is because Washington wants to be in the news cycle. I don't think anything about the Trey Hendrickson contract is because they want to be in the news cycle. But for Dallas, we have a ton of data, including Jerry Jones's own mouth in the Netflix documentary It's a soap opera 365 days a year. Jerry Jones sees value in the drama of dragging this out with Micah Parsons. Coming up next, before Taron Armstead Jackson Dart looks good again, three successful preseason games for Jackson Dart. I think the Giants plan for now is the right one. Can they continue it? It's coming up the Herd Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. FS1 the iHeartRadio app he's Mike Carmen I'm Dan Byard. We have a fantasy football podcast called I Want yout Flexed.
- [18:13]
Noah
That's right, Dan.
- [18:14]
Jake Hofer
Every week we're gonna scour the waiver wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup. Sits starts fantasy football players rankings to get you ready to dominate the competition. Listen to I Want yout Flex with.
- [18:26]
Noah
Mike Harmon and me, Dan Beyer on.
- [18:28]
Jake Hofer
The iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts and wherever.
- [18:30]
Noah
You get your podcasts Running a business.
- [18:33]
GoDaddy Advertiser
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- [19:34]
Manny
That you're on an airplane and all of a sudden you hear this.
- [19:37]
Angela Rye
Attention passengers, the pilot is having an emergency and we need someone, anyone to land this plane.
- [19:45]
Manny
Think you could do it? It turns out that nearly 50% of men think that they could land the plane with the help of air traffic control.
- [19:54]
Noah
And they're saying like, okay, pull this.
- [19:55]
Manny
Until this, pull that, turn this. It's just I do my eyes closed. I'm Manny.
- [19:59]
Noah
I'm Noah, this is Devin and on.
- [20:01]
Manny
Our new show no Such Thing, we get to the bottom of questions like these. Join us as we talk to the leading expert on overconfidence.
- [20:10]
Jake Hofer
Those who lack expertise lack the expertise they need to recognize that they lack.
- [20:16]
Manny
Expertise and then as we try the whole thing out for real. Wait, what? Oh, that's the wrong right.
- [20:22]
Noah
I'm looking at this thing.
- [20:23]
Manny
See, Listen to no such thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [20:31]
Jake Hofer
Who cares about truth when the lies. More entertaining.
- [20:34]
Angela Rye
Hey, everybody, I'm Angela Rye, co host of Native Lampa with Tiffany Cross and Andrew Gillum. Through the lens of politics and culture. We talk with you every week to make sense of this madness. I've been telling Angela I don't even know how to fight back right now. So what I'm focused on is just looking out for ourselves. That's the truth.
- [20:53]
Noah
We're having the same debates that American households are having all over the country.
- [20:56]
Angela Rye
Rest is certainly a form of self care, but if you are watching your full neighbors starve, not be able to pay bills, your rest is selfish. But the thing is, Angela, this is not the mess we created. So I do understand black folks feeling like, you know what, y' all got it.
- [21:13]
Jake Hofer
We're like family, but we disagree all the time. And we love when our listeners chime in.
- [21:19]
Angela Rye
What would happen if we built our own little Wakandan communities in the rural South.
- [21:24]
Jake Hofer
Tiffany, do not run to no rural South. I don't know what you're on.
- [21:28]
Angela Rye
What our audience is asking is. Okay, fine. You want me to stop resting? What specifically are you asking me to do? Stay informed and take action.
- [21:38]
Noah
Listen to Native land Pod on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [21:45]
Jake Hofer
Welcome home. Welcome home, y'. All. Hello, I'm John Lithgow. We choose to go to the moon. I want to tell you about my new fiction podcast. That's One Small Step for Man. It's about Buzz Aldrin, one of the true pioneers of space.
- [22:01]
Noah
You're a great pilot, Buzz. As far as I'm concerned, the best I've seen.
- [22:05]
Jake Hofer
That's the story you think you know. This is the story you don't predisposition.
- [22:10]
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- [22:13]
Jake Hofer
We'll see Buzz try to overcome demons. What do you say, Buzz? Another beer. And triumph over addiction.
- [22:20]
GoDaddy Advertiser
Here's to you, Buzz Aldrin.
- [22:22]
Jake Hofer
Good luck to you and become a true hero. Buzz and I will proceed into the lunar module not because he conquers space, but because he conquers himself. Buzz, we intercepted a Soviet radio transmission starring me, John Lithgow. Can you put it through on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts? I am a bears guy from Chicago Consider it disclosed. Caleb Williams was good last year. Anyone who watched every pass of every game, which I did, would tell you that he was not good enough. He was not as great as we thought he was going to be. But Caleb Williams was good. Best rookie quarterback, by the way, in Bears franchise history, which I agree, the bar is on the floor. That's an easy one to clear, but it is still true. And the situation that hand up I got wrong, I said it was the best situation a number one overall pick had ever walked into. I was dead wrong about that because how much of a disaster the Matt Eberflu, Shane Waldron coaching situation was, and we'll get to more of that in a second. But Caleb Williams was good. He wasn't great. But people talk about Caleb Williams like it's still possible that he could be a bust. Bust is off the table. He's good. So let's start. There's the good, the bad and the narrative. And I'll be fair. We'll start with the bad. The obvious bad. The worst of it, and there were a few, was 68 sacks. 68 sacks is an absurd number. 68 sacks is way too many. He did not fully trust what NFL open was. He held onto the ball. He was afraid to throw interceptions and so he would eat a sack as opposed to trusting his arm talent, trusting the route, trusting the play. Did not play on schedule enough. 68 sacks is unacceptable. He will always be a higher than average sacked quarterback because of how much of a big game hunter he is, because of how mobile he is, because he has that wizardry, wizardry to do the second option off angle throws, the improvisation stuff. But 68 is obviously not sustainable. And then I think there was a legit concern based on what I knew and people that I talked to around the team that Caleb was trying to get by a little bit too much on just his raw natural talent and didn't have a complete understanding of what it took Monday through Saturday to be ready for Sunday. And he was young, he was a rookie, wasn't a bad guy, wasn't unprofessional. Just there's an adjustment of what you need to do to get ready for a college game and what there is what you need to do to get ready for a pro game. And that learning curve was there for Caleb. It was also certainly impacted by the coaching turnover. So I think there was professionalism. But really the sacks. 68 sacks, you can't win. The good was he survived. Tough as hell. He played all 17 games despite being sacked 68 times. He had a three and a half to one touchdown interception ratio, 20 touchdowns against only six picks. He threw for over 3,500 yards and he dealt with. Everyone talks about the bad coaching and it was bad. They fired Shane Waldron, his play caller, nine games into the season. And the Bears are a founding charter franchise in the NFL who had never fired a head coach in season in their history. And let me tell you, Mark Tressman deserved it. Guy kicked a field goal on second down. They finally fired a coach in season because they feared a mutiny from the team because it got so bad in season last year. But that wasn't it. The offensive line situation that Caleb was dealing with. Matt Pryor, Tevin Jenkins and Coleman Shelton all started 14 plus games. And if you're out there watching or listening, being like, who are those guys? It's a totally reasonable thing for you to think. Coleman Shelton is going to start at center this year for the Rams on maybe the worst part of their team. They're very concerned that they're not going to be able to keep Matt Stafford healthy. And Tevin Jenkins and Matt Pryor are now backups in Cleveland and Philly respectively. And they all started 14 or more games for the Bears last year. So they were starting backups on the offensive line. They fired the coach, they fired the play caller. And again, if you watched, there were moments of undeniable upside. Like right now in FS1, we're showing highlights from the Bills game and I heard reactions to the Bills game being like, whoa, Caleb, look at the arm talent, look at the mobility, look at the zip on the ball, look at the accuracy. Like yeah, we saw it last year. We didn't see it enough. We didn't see it consistently enough. But he was a rookie. And that's where I think the narrative piece is getting forgotten about last season. Because last season went off the rails for the Bears. More so though for the Bears than Caleb Williams. They lost 10 games in a row and how they lost those games started to become so comical that understandably the Bears became a punchline. The Bears lost a game to Washington on a Hail Mary and the receiver who caught the ball, his man Tyreek Stevenson was literally talking to the crowd when the ball was snapped. Wasn't even paying attention. That's not on Caleb Washington ended up in the NFC Championship game. The Bears lost a game to green Bay by one point on a blocked Fields goal, a 46 yard attempt where they sent to the league office that the pass rush by the packers was illegal. Because they hit the long snapper over the ball, wasn't called. Whatever it happens, missed call, but like that's a thing that happened. Lost that game by one. They hit that 46 yard field goal. As time expires, they would have swept the season series against Green Bay because they beat him at Lambeau to end the year. Green bay was an 11 win team. Was it on Caleb Williams when they lost to Minnesota? The 14 win Minnesota Vikings when Caleb threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns and scored 27 points against Brian Flores defense? Like is that game on Caleb Williams because it feels like, well, it was just another loss in the midst of a 10 game losing streak. Okay, he took a sack in the possession of overtime. That was not good. No doubt about it. But again, Brian Flores defense, 14 win team, pretty good. 340 passing yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, scored 27 points, lost in overtime to the Vikings. And then everyone remembers the Thanksgiving game against the Lions where Matt Eberfluss forgot that he's the head coach and that you're allowed to call timeouts. They're four yards away from field goal range, would have sent him to overtime. They've got one timeout, there's a sack that puts him out of field goal range. So you got to gain the 5 yards, call the timeout, kick the field goal. There was confusion. You would like Caleb to be more situationally aware in that spot. Again a rookie. You would like your coach to help out the player. There were 32 seconds left when he got sacked. They only ran one play the rest of the game. It was like he was playing out there with no coaches. So I think if they win two of those four games and all of a sudden they are 7 and 10 instead of 5 and 12 with wins over the Vikings and the Commanders in addition to their win at the end over the packers, you're like, okay, 7 and 10, ups and downs, missed the playoffs, took too many sacks, coach got fired instead. It's, I don't know. Is Caleb Williams an NFL player? They upgraded it. Right guard, center, left guard, coach, play caller. They used a top 10 pick on Colston Loveland, a tight end. And they used a top 40 pick on Luther Burden, a receiver, both of whom looked good in the preseason opener where the starters played against the Bills. So last year should be the floor for Caleb Williams. And by the way, everything that I've heard about Caleb from this year at camp, him and Ben Johnson, intense relationship, really taking well to hard coaching. True Professional knows 100% of what it takes and he's working his ass off to be great. So if the floor is 3,500 passing yards and a three and a half to one touchdown interception ratio and he upgraded 60% of his offensive line, his head coach, his play caller, his tight end position and his wide receiver group, why are we surprised that he led a touchdown drive against the Bills in the preseason? The discourse has just gone completely insane with the oh, they're sitting him out. They're hiding him. They're afraid. They prefer Tyson Beijing. Caleb Williams is good, can still be great, and I think his ceiling is still MVP of the league and a Super bowl champion at some point in his career. And I think people frankly have really lost the plot with Caleb Williams and I look forward to seeing him build on year one in year two with Ben Johnson. Should be a very exciting season and a very exciting next decade for Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears. Coming up next, Tom Verducci, one of the top voices in baseball. The brewers, the best team but not the best shot to win a World Series. We unpack how it's all happening. Coming up. The herd one more herd the herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like.
- [33:03]
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- [34:05]
Manny
That you're on an airplane and all of a sudden you hear this.
- [34:08]
Jake Hofer
Attention passengers.
- [34:09]
Angela Rye
The pilot is having an emergency and we need someone, anyone to land this plane.
- [34:16]
Manny
Think you could do it. It turns out that nearly 50% of men think that they could land the plane with the help of air traffic control.
- [34:24]
Jake Hofer
And they're saying like, okay, pull this.
- [34:26]
Manny
Until this, pull that, turn this. It's just I do my eyes closed. I'm Manny.
- [34:30]
Jake Hofer
I'm Noah. This is Devin.
- [34:32]
Manny
And on our new show, no Such Thing, we get to the bottom of questions like these. Join us as we talk to the leading expert on overconfidence.
- [34:41]
Jake Hofer
Those who lack expertise lack the expertise. They need to recognize that they lack expertise.
- [34:48]
Manny
And then as we try the whole thing out for real. Wait, what? Oh, that's the Runway.
- [34:53]
Noah
I'm looking at this thing. See?
- [34:55]
Manny
Listen to no Such thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [35:02]
Jake Hofer
Who cares about truth when the lies. More entertaining.
- [35:05]
Angela Rye
Hey, everybody. I'm Angela Rai, co host of Native Lampa with Tiffany Cross and Andrew Gillum. Through the lens of politics and culture, we talk with you every week to make sense of this madness. I've been telling Angela, I don't even know how to fight back right now. So what I'm focused on is just looking out for ourselves.
- [35:23]
Jake Hofer
That's the truth.
- [35:24]
Noah
We're having the same debates that American households are having all over the country.
- [35:27]
Angela Rye
Rest is certainly a form of self care, but if you are watching your full neighbors starve, not be able to pay bills, your rest is selfish. But the thing is, Angela, this is not the mess we created. So I do understand black folks feeling like, you know what, y' all got it.
- [35:44]
Jake Hofer
We're like family, but we disagree all the time. And we love when our listeners chime in.
- [35:50]
Angela Rye
What would happen if we built our own little Wakandan communities in the rural South?
- [35:55]
Jake Hofer
Tiffany, do not run to no rural south. I don't know what you're on.
- [35:59]
Angela Rye
What our audience is asking is, okay, fine, you want me to stop resting? What specifically are you asking me to do? Stay informed and take action.
- [36:10]
Noah
Listen to Nativeland pod on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [36:16]
Jake Hofer
Welcome home, y'.
- [36:17]
Manny
All.
- [36:19]
Jake Hofer
Hello, I'm John Lithgow. We choose to go to the moon. I want to tell you about my new fiction podcast. It's one small step for man. It's about Buzz Aldrin, one of the true pioneers of space.
- [36:32]
Noah
You're a great pilot, Buzz. As far as I'm concerned, the best I've seen.
- [36:36]
Jake Hofer
That's the story you're thinking. You know, this is the story.
- [36:39]
GoDaddy Advertiser
You don't predisposition to depression, alcohol abuse and suicide.
- [36:44]
Jake Hofer
We'll see Buzz try to overcome demons. What do you say, Buzz? Another beer and triumph over addiction.
- [36:51]
GoDaddy Advertiser
Here's to you, Buzz Aldrin.
- [36:53]
Jake Hofer
Good luck to you and become a true hero. Buzz and I will proceed into the lunar module not because he conquers space, but because he conquers himself. Buzz, we intercepted a Soviet radio transmission starring me, John Lithgow. Can you put it through Translate on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts? Columbia Back in on the Herd, I'm Danny Parkins in for Colin Cowherd. Chris Felika the Bear joins us in about 20 minutes, but I'm excited about this. And joining us now on the Herd, the host of the terrific the Athletic Football show is my buddy Robert Mays. And you know, Robert, I was thinking about texting you, I was thinking about calling you and then I was like, now let's just do it on national tv. I listened to, I listened to your podcast of the 2024 draft class and you know, you root for the Bears, you're in Chicago. You, like me, watched every pass of Caleb Williams last year. But when you did that podcast, you were talking about how you had the thought the most question marks were about Caleb and I was surprised. There was definitely plenty of bad. He was not as good as many of us thought he was going to be. But there were so many things that contributed to it. I'm wondering if you are feeling better after the preseason game against Buffalo.
- [38:17]
Noah
It'd be hard not to feel better when you look at how on time and mechanically sound the offense felt. Just watching him operate with a level of urgency and confidence and just the pre snap operation and clearly how in command of that he feels. I've always had faith that with Ben Johnson this could be corrected. I watched what Ben Johnson did with Jared Goff and I remember what Jared Goff looked like near the end in Los Angeles. So I think there's a big gap that Caleb has to close based on how he played last year. But when you go from the worst possible circumstances in terms of how the offense is being articulated to a quarterback, the intent of certain plays to what is one going to be one of the best situations in the NFL when it comes to all that stuff, you can see a drastically different result. So I think that I was a little bit worried about some of that stuff last year. I absolutely still have faith that it can get cleaned up with the right coaching. And I think Ben Johnson is the right coach.
- [39:12]
Jake Hofer
So what do you believe Caleb Williams not necessarily this year, but where do you have him in terms of a ceiling? What can he still become?
- [39:19]
Noah
It's a great question. I don't know exactly where I land on that because I don't know how many quarterbacks are like him in the end NFL that are actually analogous to him when it comes to play style and what he's bringing to the table. But if you told me, I think as this as it currently stands in the NFL, the NFL quarterback hierarchy, when you get outside of the top four guys, I think it's pretty muddled. I think that group between like 5 and 15 right now is very fluid where there's going to be a lot of risers and followers over the next couple years. If you told me at the end of the 2026 season that Caleb Williams was the eighth best quarterback in the league, I would believe that a lot of stuff would have to go right for it to happen. But I think that tier, especially right now, is kind of there for the taking. Depend on how, depending on how the next couple seasons go.
- [40:08]
Jake Hofer
So he's a part of this 2024 draft class and I said earlier in the show I think it's trending that it'll be arguably the most successful draft class in NFL history. Not in terms of Super Bowls or anything like that, but in terms of teams just getting it right. The 2020 class had five guys who signed second contracts with the team that drafted them, which is an NFL record. I know it's early, but I feel like they're going to go 6 for 6 in the first round. Do you look at last year's QB classes, potentially an all time one? I do.
- [40:41]
Noah
Obviously J.J. mcCarthy is probably the biggest question mark just because we haven't seen him play. But all the other guys, even with only a glimpse at Michael Penck, I'm really excited about what Michael Penic showed last year. So the guy, if you look at the numbers, that was the least efficient any advanced metric you want to take a look at last year among that entire group was Caleb Williams. And we just talked about the collective optimism that I think is justified with Caleb Williams. What you saw from Jane Daniels was undeniable. Bo Nix was so much better than anybody could have expected. Drake May, if you look at the scenario in New England and the personnel in New England, that should have been doa. They should have had absolutely no shot to even be a competent offense. And if you look at those numbers, Drake May was able to actually have a functional NFL offense with that group, which is a borderline miracle. So we'll see what happens this year. I think there are still reasonable questions about all of these guys, but the arrow is pointed way, way up in a way that we just don't typically see with a group as a whole.
- [41:40]
Jake Hofer
So I want to talk to you about Trevor Lawrence because he is the same age as Bo Nix and Michael Penix who are in that quarterback class, but he's on his third head coach. He's had four first round picks on the offensive side of the ball that he's been there. He gets Liam Cohen, who helped Baker Mayfield. To me this feels like the last stand for Trevor Lawrence to prove that he can be that guy. How do you look at it now with the situation that he's in in Jacksonville?
- [42:08]
Noah
I think that's a great way to frame it. And if he's not going to succeed in these circumstances and they're not perfect, the offensive line, they're shooting for the middle of the road even in a if that turns out well. But when you think about the constraint construction of the offense and how hard it felt in Jacksonville over the last couple years and how easy it felt for Baker Mayfield and Tampa last year, it's just a drastically different situation and what you're requiring of the quarterback. And it's funny, we're doing the AFC south preview on our show today and for each team we're talking about what is success. And for me and the Jags, part of their successful 2025 would be that we never see Trevor Lawrence's name on a bottom third cry on ever again. And so the fact that we're doing this right now I think speaks to what we don't want to be doing by the end of this season.
- [42:53]
Jake Hofer
That's an interesting way to frame it. I do think the most interesting guy maybe in the NFL this year is his teammate Travis Hunter. I've argued that he's going to set the snap record as a rookie, which is a weird record. I know that. Not everybody knows that Malcolm Jenkins has the most snaps of any player in NFL history, but he had more snaps last year in 13 or 14 college games than Malcolm Jenkins did in 16 games. Like he has a chance to shatter the record. What do you expect from Travis Hunter in Year one?
- [43:22]
Noah
Something we've never seen before. I don't think we've ever seen somebody play on both sides of the ball at the clip that he is going to do it. Even watching the mechanics of what their practices were like when I was down in training camp in Jacksonville watching him off to the side with defensive coaches while they were going through special teams, having him switch jerseys in the middle of a practice. We've never seen anything like this. And it was probably 98 degrees and just disgustingly humid when I was there. And he looked like he was having the best time anyone's ever had on a football field, as all of the rest of us were miserable. The way the amount of gas he has in the tank, we should study him. I've never seen anybody like it. And they know that even beyond the amount of snaps on both sides of the ball, how much they're going to put him in motion, how many just pure feet he is going to run over the course of an NFL game. I want some numbers on that because I don't think we've ever seen anything like it before.
- [44:13]
Jake Hofer
Rob Robert Mays from the Athletic Football show is our guest. We'll get into the specifics of the Micah thing in a minute, but I've argued that, like holdouts in terms of missed games, they're not extinct, but they're like an endangered species. Because the best players get paid. In a post Le'Veon Bell world, it doesn't really happen. Chris Jones is an outlier. We have three of them right now. Terry McLaurin, Trey Hendrickson and Micah Parsons. Do you expect them all to play Week one?
- [44:44]
Noah
I do, just because of precedent. And I know you were talking about Micah before I came on, and I think the Occam's Razor approach to this is typically how I do it. Like the simplest answer and the answer that we've seen before is the answer that we'll see again. All of them have subtle differences between them, but these guys are incentivized to play. I don't think they want to be missing game checks. And every single one of these teams has aspirations for this season, and all of these players are necessary components to that. So I'll believe it when I see it. If none of these guys are on the field week one, I just tend to think the way the league currently works, like you just said, most of this stuff gets sorted out before the actual games get started. And that's where I sit with them.
- [45:25]
Jake Hofer
The McLaren and Hendrickson ones, though, right? Like McLaren, I can see the argument, well, we know we need to pay him, but he probably isn't as good as AJ Brown, so I could see there being some disagreement there. Hendrickson is like, okay, we know we need to pay him. He was, even though he's really productive. But he's older, he's on the wrong side of 30. I could see there being some disagreement there. Micah Parsons is just like universally regarded as a top three top five defensive player in football for the team that drafted him. Coming off of his rookie contract. It should be easy, but for some reason Jerry Jones doesn't want to talk to an agent even though David Mologhetta has players that are on the Cowboys. It's all ridiculous. What do you make of that one specifically and why this one has been so difficult in Dallas?
- [46:08]
Noah
Jerry is P.T. barnum. I mean that's, that's what he has been for way too long. And the fact that that's his priority right now is making a spectacle spectacle out of this team. If I were a Cowboys fan, and we are all collectively agreeing that some of this is to drum up interest for a Netflix documentary or just to drum up interest for about the franchise in general that doesn't need any more publicity. It's just so hard for me to square the fact that this is somebody who has openly talked about how important it is for him to win another super bowl and how much winning matters and so many of his actions are directly contradictory to that. If I was a fan of this team, it would drive me absolutely bonkers. Just a pure hypocrisy that consistently goes on with the messaging and the reality of the people that are in charge of that franchise.
- [46:57]
Jake Hofer
Let's stay in the NFC East. Jackson Dart has looked good in the preseason, but he's got two veterans in front of him. He's got a coach and a GM on the hot seat and their schedules a mess. When do you expect to see Jackson Dart?
- [47:11]
Noah
I expect to see him pretty quickly. I really do. I just think the way that he's played in the preseason, how warm and fuzzy Brian Dable seems to feel about this. I've interacted with Brian Dable several times in my life. Brian Dable is not a warm and fuzzy person. You watch Brian Dabel on the sideline. He's not happy about much and he seems to be pretty happy about what he's getting from Jackson Dart. And you can honestly see it in the construction of the offense when Jackson Dart is in there. Brian Dable is somebody that came from the college game before he was the offensive coordinator of the Bills. He spent a year, that gap year at Alabama that so many guys seem to spend. He's interested in the college game. He consistently studies the college game and you've already seen some of that old Miss stuff get folded into what the Giants are. I think that on so many different levels, the Jackson Dart experience has already been energizing for this team and this coaching staff. The idea that they would wait a while before tapping into that when Russell Wilson at this point in his career to me is the opposite of energizing. I think I want to see Jackson dart pretty quickly and I wouldn't be surprised if the Giants want to see Jackson Dart pretty quickly.
- [48:17]
Jake Hofer
All right, so let's go open ended here. You've been to a bunch of training camps. You cover the NFL as in depth and as closely as anyone. What's been the biggest learn for you? The biggest thing? Oh man, I positive, negative, good, whatever surprise that you learned on this training camp tour?
- [48:36]
Noah
I would say two things. I think it's the collective optimism I had about the general direction of both the Titans and the Panthers. Those are two organizations and two teams that really haven't had any reason for people to think that there are good things waiting around the corner. And when I left those two buildings, I think that the process, the way that they've tried to build the rosters, some of the things they're trying to do with their young quarterbacks, I don't know if it's going to work. I don't know if the Bryce Young thing is going to continue based on the second half of last season. I don't know if Cam Ward is going to be good. These are all things with young quarterbacks that there's a little bit of murkiness, but the what they've tried to do and how they've tried to go about things in both of those buildings, I'm looking forward to watching both of those offenses in week one. And if you had asked me that on August 22nd of last year, there's absolutely no way. So just the general direction and how much quiet optimism I have about both of those places, I did not expect that before I walked into both of those buildings earlier this summer.
- [49:40]
Jake Hofer
What do you make of a team that's supposed to compete for a Super Bowl? Gave the Eagles all that they could handle but has an injured quarterback and a bad offensive line line. I feel like there's a lot of boom or bust potential right now with the Rams.
- [49:55]
Noah
There's always boomer bust potential with this team and they're so hard to talk about because we discuss this a lot. The Rams get the benefit of the doubt where we're consistently talking ourselves into oh well, in the best version of this team, look at what they can do. We don't do that with anyone else we don't wish for the best version of every other team consistently, but we've seen the Rams do it before. They did it when they won the Super Bowl. They did it for that stretch in 2023 when they can thread the needle. They look special. And so I just think that there's more volatility with that team than almost any other in the league. I will say they have built in contingencies with this version of it they have not had in years past. If you remember that 2022 season and even the game Stafford missed, I believe in 2023 when Brett Rippon had to play in Green Bay. That's why Jimmy Garoppolo is there now. They have a backup left tackle in D.J. humphreys. So I think the floor is slightly higher for the Rams than it has been in years past when they've had some of these injuries. But the ceiling also seems a little bit harder to reach if you're 37 year old quarterback is going to have a back injury coming into this season.
- [51:01]
Jake Hofer
So this is not a story that you guys would really do a ton of on the Athletic Football show, but I'm just curious, what has your perception been of the media handling of the Shador Sanders story as it relates to the validity of it as a football football story?
- [51:18]
Noah
We know how this stuff works. You know, you have to talk about certain things because there's interest in certain things that the tail wags the dog a lot when it comes to sports media. I'm not surprised by this. I just think overall the breathless coverage of every moment of training camp, training camp stats, who looks good, who looks bad. It's so misguided most of the time. Like we just don't have a good handle on what is happening during these practices. You're watching it from the sideline. You don't have a vantage point of the entire offense. You can't watch the entire offense and you can't go back and watch practice tape to understand any of the context of what's happening. So there inevitably there are going to be so many silly things written and said over the course of any given training camp and I think there's a very good chance most of those reside in Cleveland based on how the past month has gone.
- [52:10]
Jake Hofer
All right, last one. Who's winning the Super Bowl?
- [52:16]
Noah
It pains me to say it, but I'm probably going to pick the Ravens. I just think that their best year is so good right now. I love some of the little tweaks they made on defense with the way they played on the back half of the season on defense last year and I think Lamar has reached a really special level and they have most of those component parts coming back on offense. They felt like the best team in the league for stretches of last year and just couldn't get over the hump. They're probably top to bottom the team I believe in the most right now.
- [52:43]
Jake Hofer
Robert Mays from the Athletic Football Show. I love listing. Man, this was fun. Thank you.
- [52:49]
Noah
Anytime, bud.
- [52:50]
Manny
Why are TSA rules so confusing?
- [52:53]
Noah
You got a hoodie on. Take it off.
- [52:55]
Manny
I'm Manny.
- [52:56]
Noah
I'm Noah, this is Devin and we're.
- [52:57]
Manny
Best friends and journalists with a new podcast called no Such Thing where we get to the bottom of questions like that. Why are you screaming? I can't expect what to do now if the rule was the the same go off on me.
- [53:09]
Jake Hofer
I deserve it, you know. Lock him up.
- [53:11]
Manny
Listen to no Such thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. No such thing.
- [53:20]
Jake Hofer
Who cares about truth when the lies More entertaining.
- [53:22]
Angela Rye
Welcome home. I'm Angela R. Co host of the Native Lampod with Andrew Gillum and Tiffany Cross and we want y' all to survive and thrive in this political moment.
- [53:30]
Noah
We're having the same debates that American households are having all over the country.
- [53:34]
Angela Rye
I am terrified that in our rest we're going to miss the moment. You want me to stop resting? What specifically are you asking me to do? Stay informed and take action.
- [53:44]
Noah
Listen to Native Land pod on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [53:51]
Jake Hofer
I'm Jake Hofer and this is back 40, a limited series show on Wire to Hunt, part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network. Each episode I'll be asking eight whitetail hunting pros a few focused, thought provoking question about hunting and land management. How do I hunt the best part of the farm with less than ideal access? Should you? That's what the real question is. Stand without good access is not a good stand. Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. It's Black Business Month and Money and wealth podcast with John Hope Bryant is tapping in. I'm breaking down how to build wealth, create opportunities and move from surviving to thriving. It's time to talk about ownership, equity and everything in between. Black and brown communities have historically been last in line. Let me just say this AI is.
- [54:40]
Noah
Moving faster than civil rights legislation ever did.
- [54:43]
Jake Hofer
Listen to Money and Wealth from the Black Effect podcast network on iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [54:51]
Angela Rye
This is an iHeart podcast.