Doug Gottlieb (2:45)

What up, Doug Gottlieb in for Cohen. Heard FOX Sports Radio iHeartradio app. Welcome in. So last night, Oklahoma City took a two game to none lead. And stop, if you heard this before, but Shay Gildis Alexander, dominant not just from the two, but also from the one from the free throw line. What do you make 13 out of 15 free throws? Anthony Edwards, the Ant man, unavailable post game. Obviously, considering all the hype and the desire to be kind of the next dude, has not yet looked like the next dude in these last two games. But I think, I think here's the distinction that people need to make. This is a real thing. So when you go on social media, you'll get people who will say, who are, you know, and, and look, full disclosure, I have numerous friends in the Oklahoma City Thunder organization, and honestly, I think they do a great job and I love watching this team play, but there's, there's no, there just isn't a world in which we somehow deny that Shea Gilgis Alexander is a free throw merchant of the highest, highest variety. Right? And, and he's a good one. And oh yeah, by the way, he's also taking advantage of how the game is officiated now as opposed to how it used to be officiated. And here's what I. And, but here's the, the special distinction, okay? Like I will see on social media, people say Michael Jordan shot nine more free throws the game. And he probably did. Remember when Michael Jordan played and they played the Detroit Pistons and what was called the Jordan rules, they would pummel him when he go to the basket. They would intentionally foul him because up until his first championship run, he didn't trust his teammates. He wouldn't pass on that penetration. He tried and win it on his own. And, and so, yeah, he shot a lot of free throws. Michael Jordan shot a lot of free throws. Michael Jordan got calls. There's no question. The, the difference in Jordan, Bird, Magic, even Kobe, okay, was what they didn't do was like this next step. It started with Harden, with throwing the head back, but Shea will. He falls down. I mean, in game one, how many times did he fall down? And it's interesting, like, you love him. They were like, oh, he keeps getting fouled. If you hate him, you're like, dude, he fouls. He falls down more than Joel Embiid falls down a lot. But now he's gotten caught. And he, he's great at this, at locking in his arm inside somebody else's arm. Who's guarding them so contact is made. And then throwing his hand up and his arm up and his head back and getting a foul. Like he is a Picasso at being a foul garnering artiste. He's a Picasso. He does it better than anybody else. But it's really hard to sit there and go like, I love watching this march to the free throw line. And I understand you could sit there again, go Jordan and Bird and all these guys, they used to go to the free throw line. There were more of the spectacular variety plays because they weren't going free throw line or pivot, pivot, pivot mid range, pull up really close to. He's. This is, it's like talking out of both sides of your mouth when you say he's an amazing, amazing player. James Harden's an amazing player. Amazing player. And in many ways, James Harden's a better player in his prime than Shea Gilgis Alexander is because Harden had some of the same foul drawing abilities, only he was an elite passer. And Chase, he's a good passer. There's nothing, nothing's truly special about him as a passer. Nothing truly special about as a three point shooter. He's unbelievable. Mid range and six feet in. He, it seems like he never misses and then he has the ability to draw fouls. He's the best of these free throw merchants. But, but if you just throw out raw stats and you go, hey, mj. I mean, again, the difference would be Michael Jordan was driving into a lane where there were two guys and, and yeah, sometimes there were phantom calls, no question. But what he wasn't doing was he wasn't locking up somebody else's arm, driving to the basket and then all of a sudden releasing the arm and flailing back and falling down at the second of releasing the basketball in order to gain a foul. Like, that's just, he didn't do it. So I get what the stats look like, but you can't, you can't fool the hardcore basketball fan. And as, as likable, hell, as lovable as he is, right? Like, dude gets up there and I don't know what it is about Oklahoma City guys, but when they win the mvp, they always just say the right thing. Go back to Russell. Russell Westbrook was the, the, you know, the basketball is my only friend type deal. But, but Kevin Rant talked about his mom being the real MVP and she Gills Alexander talked about his wife. It was beautiful. Like, this is not an indictment on him, the person. It's not really indictment on him, the player it's an indictment on where we've gotten to in an effort to make the game more offense friendly. The offense gets to dictate contact and all these other things. And now we've gotten to the place where the offense will intentionally make not just contact, but grab the defender in an effort to act like they're being grabbed. And yeah, I don't know how much you guys watched last night, but there was a point in the game where, you know, one of the Timberwolves players just pushed him and then when they're jawing back and forth in the lane, he's like, hey, stop flopping, bro, stop flopping. You know. And look, the story to Oklahoma City is they're playing more of a college style defense, right? Really, really pressuring the basketball. And that's the other thing, right? So we're not allowed to get anywhere near Shea, Gil, just Alexander. We put our hands anywhere near him, he grabs them and acts like. Which you're allowed to do. We teach our guys to do that. So it puts their hand on you. It's your hand, but. But you go from that to the other end where Oklahoma City is playing super physical on the ball defensively, and then what's called a loaded up defense. Just feet and hands and bodies as much in the paint. So you're playing one on five or at least one on two, more than one on one. There's just no spacing there like it is against other teams. It's a better coach defensive team that is daring you to make skip passes and skip passes into drives or skip passes into jump shots. And the Timberwolves aren't doing it, but the juxtaposition of how the game is officiated at each end. And again, a lot of it is style. You know, Oklahoma City, they do what Rick Patino's teams have famously done, which is they foul on every play with the idea that you can't call them all. It's an unwatchable game if you call a foul on every possession. So if you have greater depth than everybody else, you get up in them. One, once you establish contact, they don't usually call contact fouls. Two, you know, if you do get into foul trouble, you got the numbers to withstand a little foul trouble. And three, there's the, you know, it's not just style, it's. They're playing at home and the place is getting crazy. But they're also playing hellboring to defense. So even if you go by the guy that has his hands on you, they're forcing you to make that next pass. But it's. It's really interesting that you're watching Shay and how he plays. And, you know, I. I was at game seven. I shared this on my show. It's Doug Alan for Colin this, the Herd Fox board trio. Iheartradio app. I went to game seven between the Nuggets and the Thunder, and I wasn't. The crowd is incredible, right? It's like. It really is like a college crowd. People ask, what was it so cool about playing at Oklahoma State when you were there? It's. That's what the crowd was like every night. Unbelievable. But I'm. I'm standing in front of some guy who, behind me, every time Jokic draws the foul, he's like, free throw merchant. He's like, well, I. I get it. Jokic does draw fouls and does throw his hands into people and do all kind of the classic ways to draw fouls. But you do know that Shay is like, if. If there's different rankings or different chess pieces, if Jokic is the king, then he's the queen. If Jokic is the queen, then he's the king of free throw merchantry. And I don't know if. If there's a cottage industry, a free throw merchantry, or if you need a bachelor's or master's degree, but he's got a doctorate, but it makes it really, really hard. And it's also one of those things where the difference between now and the jordan era is hdtv4k and how good the replays are, where you're sitting there going like, yeah, I don't think he was actually touched, and yet he fell down. You know, look, if the Thunder win the title, it probably doesn't matter, but this does feel like. Do you guys remember when Dwyane Wade and the Dallas Mavericks beat the. Excuse me. Dwayne Wade in the. The Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. And it was just a constant march to the free throw line, where it almost felt predetermined that the NBA wanted to make Dwayne Wade a star. I don't think that's what happened. I think, again, it's just adjusting. Adjusting the rules, and you're sitting there going, hey, the offensive player has all the benefits of these rules. So much. So now that Shea is actually creating the contact, grabbing the other player, locking up his arm, and then making it out as if that arm is grabbing him. This is. You know, yesterday we talked about the Tush push still being allowed. You know, they've Gotten away from guys just throwing back their head. And now Shea has taken it to another level where he kind of falls to the side and constantly making faces and noises, even when he's not getting touched. I do wonder what adjustment they can make in terms of stylistically or rules wise or emphasis wise in officiating the future. It is that widely discussed, and I think it's because he's the best at it. He's the MVP. It's obvious what he's doing. Hey, coming up next, LeBron's agents talking about him moving. Is there any chance he changes teams? We'll discuss next in the Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of.

Colin Cowherd (14:01)

The Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific.

Doug Gottlieb (14:05)

What up? It's the herd. Fox Sports Radio iHeartradio app. Welcome, welcome, welcome in. I got some good Herdline news for you. A little bit more on the Tush Push still being allowed. Guess who says, hey, Tush push. Cool play. Not using it because I'll just a man. New head coach in the NFL. We'll get to that in about 20 minutes. Plus Mike Malone, who. He was kind of feeling himself a little bit as doing some ESPN analysis. He happened to say that Shay Gilgis Alexander should be the mvp. Now he's backpedaling faster than Dion used to backpedal as the best cornerback of all time. There's a lot to get to. Mark Dominic will join us. We'll ask him about Brock Purdy's new contract and Brock Purdy saying He's a top 10 quarterback quarterback in the NFL. It's like Brock Purdy is a, is a, a radio producer or a TV segment producer. Hey, I'm top 10 quarterback in the NFL. You know, everybody loves their lists. Let me start with this, though. So, so technically, LeBron James has a player option, right? A player option. So he can not sign or opt out of his player option, become a free agent, and essentially pick where he wants to go. All right. But LeBron James, at 40 years old, well, his options are kind of limited nonetheless. Rich Paul, his agent, was on the Rich Eisen show, and he asked about LeBron's upcoming player option this, this off season. I think they've been on pins and needles for a while, I think. I don't know about that, though. I, I wish I had the answer, Rich. I don't know.

Mark Dominic (15:46)

So you don't have conversations with him.

Jason Stewart (15:47)

About how much longer he wants?

Doug Gottlieb (15:49)

Okay, No, I don't have, I don't have conversations like that. I just, I go into each year like he's continuing to play. I never even, like, talk about that. I don't talk about that. Well, I mean, you are his agent and his best friend. So look, we can just cut to the brass tacks. LeBron's not going anywhere, right? They just drafted his son, and I'm sure he wants to leverage some of whatever farewell tour he has to potentially draft his other son, Bryce, who's gonna be a freshman in Arizona. I'm sure that's probably part of the weight on his mind, right? Is this the last year or do I wait another year? Make that the last year. And we could act like, hey, LeBron, he could just walk away at any time. But does anyone think that a guy who has gotten and honestly earned as much attention as he as, as he's gotten, like, we can sit there and say a lot of these things are attention getting things, but I mean, have we seen a guy play as consistently well for 20 years in the NBA? No. No. Is he as good as he used to be? No. But to those of us who remember Kareem playing at 40, he was much more of a shell of his former incredible self. So again, I'm not, I'm not the guy that's sitting there hating on LeBron, telling you, oh my God, LeBron wants attention. Like, look, when you've gotten this much attention since you were 16 years old and you've lived up to and probably exceeded anybody's reasonable expect, or what you could do, or how well you could do it, or how long you could do it, how well you could do it, you're going to get a bunch of attention. And it's a really, really hard lifestyle to get out of. It just is. But, but if we're honest, he's not going anywhere and he's not retiring without some sort of ceremonious retirement celebration, you know, like, Kareem wants far less attention, yet Kareem did the whole tour after becoming the all time leading scorer in the game. LeBron likes the attention, likes it again. And you can sit there and go, oh, you're LeBron, or whatever. Like, no, I just don't know anybody who would dispute that. Right. It's not like he's pushing away attention to his private life, to his off, off court conversations. No, he wants attention to that. So, you know, he's got his production company, that's his little baby. He, he makes, makes movies and does documentaries out of it. All great. All that requires attention that, hey, we have this here. And you get that through LeBron James getting attention. But I mean, this is like a nonsensical question. You know, he's got a player option because if he really, really, really wanted to win in la, he would go, hey, here's what we'll do. Let's opt out of this. Sign a minimal deal or a small deal over a couple years, and then let's go go to work and go get me some guys that can play some defense. I. I don't. You know, and when he talked about, when Rich talks about the Lakers being on pins and needles, like, is that. Is that what you need? Is that. Because that's, that's obviously leverage. Why would you do this? You would only do it is if you want to have some sort of power or organization that you play for. Right? And he used and he wielded that power to get them to draft Bronnie and play Bronnie way above the level of his competency at the time which he was drafted. And whether or not Bronny becomes a full time NBA player and a guy who's a reasonable rotation player is, Is a, Is. Has actually nothing to do with the farce that took place last off season. Because last off season, we were told there's all. There was multiple teams interested. There weren't. You know, you had J.J. redick in one of his first press conferences saying, he earned. He earned where he was drafted. He didn't. Again, it doesn't mean that you can't draft a guy. You're allowed to draft a guy and say, hey, you know, he went through a hard issue. He had a hard first year at usc, but we see the future as being bright. But sit there and go like, well, he earned it, like, doing what? But nonetheless, that was all because LeBron has power and he leveraged it. And he's like, look, I don't want to leave la, but I also want to help raise my kid, coach my kid, see my kid grow. You guys are going to draft him. He'll play some with us and some of the G League travel with him. It'll be awesome experience. And I'm sure for Bronnie, it probably was outside of a lot of the, the, the yakking on it. And for LeBron too, right? Yeah. Some of that stuff know strikes close to home and really hurt him. But when he zooms out, he's like, I got to spend a whole year with my son in and out of the NBA. Probably wants to do with Bryce whether or not Bryce isn't even as good as Bronnie. So he has Power. He's trying to leverage that power. That's the only reason for doing it because at some point you start talking about this stuff and guys just rolling their eyes like he's not going to retire without a, without a proper send off. The league wouldn't want him to do that either. And we can act like the league is. Well, it's like something nefarious from the league. It's not, it's not. If the league could have done with Jordan, they would have done it with Jordan. But with LeBron, I mean that. This is. They don't want to kill the golden goose. They want him around as long as possible. They just want to keep milking it. And you can sit there and go like, I'm tired of LeBron. But if, if it comes out and LeBron says, hey, this is my retirement tour, you're going and gobbling up those tickets, you're going to watch TV a lot more. It it. Because it's LeBron. He's Haley's comment. It ain't coming around for another 87 years. By the way. JSTU, do you think people who are like under 40 get the Haley's comment reference? I feel like that's a really dated our age reference of Haley's comment because Haley's common hasn't been around in like 40 years and won't be around for another 40 years. And unless you were a kid or adult lived through it, you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Colin Cowherd (22:08)

I think it's a, I think it's pretty tangible reference for any, any educated generation. But I guess that's saying a lot. That's assuming that our kids are being educated.

Doug Gottlieb (22:18)

Yeah. Is there a TikTok on Haley's comment? Is there an Instagram reel on Haley's comment?

Colin Cowherd (22:27)

You'll get, you'll get the first 10 tick tock results will be Haley. Was it. What's, what's Haley Bieber? No, the Haley is the wife of the Bills quarterback. What's her name? Seinfeld. Seinfeld. Ryan Smith here is a big Marvel fan. She was one of the Marvel characters. Steinfeld. Seinfeld. There he goes. Go past all the Haley. Steinfeld.

Doug Gottlieb (22:49)

Sorry. Yeah, there's a lot of other Haleys. Matter of fact, there is kind of a rush on Haley's that are older teenagers. Right? That's a, that's a big name. Maybe that came from, from our generation. And Haley's comment and saying, hey, I kind of like this name Haley. Who is the first to name their kid? Aiden because I know 15 Aidens who are under 20. I don't know anybody over 20 named Aiden. Just want to point that out.

Colin Cowherd (23:15)

Speaking of wrong thing, one thing about this. So was a, a little less than a year ago, we, we all witnessed that ruse, that circus where the Lakers tried to convince the public that Bronnie was a legitimate draft prospect.

Doug Gottlieb (23:32)

Sure.

Colin Cowherd (23:32)

And then they, they drafted him and said that he earned it. And then they, you know, they signed, they gave him a, the guaranteed deal for a second round pick. You're saying to me that LeBron would compel a historic franchise like the Lakers to do something embarrassing like that and lie to the public and then not come back after one year? I mean, isn't, doesn't he have, doesn't he, isn't he owe the Lakers something for that massive favor of being able to play with his son and do that thing where he invited the Griffeys in and nobody cared but him? Doesn't he owe the Lakers at least one more season?

Doug Gottlieb (24:10)

I mean, I think the answer in terms of reality is yes. But in terms of LeBron, does he think he owes them that? I don't think the answer is yes. I just don't. And, and you know what? He, he might have a little bit of a point, right, because he has, he didn't play every game, but for 40 years old he gave him, he gave him a lot. And he does compete to win and he has a gigantic name. So does he owe it to them? Of course he owes it to them. But again, you're looking at this as a non parent, rational human being that hasn't had fame thrust upon them and been told they could do no wrong. Like he went, he had his show called the Shop, right, which was the Barbershop, and he actually sued Nick Saban because they had a similar show, because he believed he invented barbershop. Conversation being recorded like what, what do you think the essence of first take is? What are we even talking about? But when you live in a world where everybody just says, hey, whatever you say, King, it's really hard to tell if up is up and down is down. And so, yeah, if it's me, if my son, who's not clearly qualified, even close to as his son is, hey, dude, we're going to draft you in the second round and give you a guaranteed contract, I'd be unbelievably grateful. It's the type of thing that you do for a lifelong friend, man. That's a real solid. I truly appreciate it. If there's Ever a way I can, I can help you, you know, return the favor. You just ask. That's how normal, reasonable relationships take. It's not a quid pro quo. You take care of me, I take care of you. It's like, hey, that's a real solid. I appreciate it. I, I feel so close to the Lakers organization. That's just not what we've heard come out of LeBron or come out of Rich Paul. An example. Hey, they're, they're, they're on. What do you say? They're on eggshells. Why are they on eggshells? Like, you're his agent, you're his best friend. They did him a solid. Like, look, the Lakers are completely lockstep with LeBron. They know everything he wants to do. They've done right by him. He's going to do right by them. They. They'll come to a mutual decision. But that's not what you hear. It's not what you hear. You hear. I don't know. They wait on eggshells. He's got a lot of options. No, he doesn't. His option is come back and play. Figure out how he wants to play, how he. They can go and get, you know, legit defenders to go along with their, their best three players who are all offensive players. I don't think it's a championship makeup or championship roster. And if he wants it to be his last year, give the heads up. It's his last year so the whole league can do the proper celebration. And if you want to push back in a proper celebration because Jordan didn't have one, just know that, like, look, LeBron James, what was it? Nine straight NBA Finals, four titles. He's in any conversations, the greats of all time. And he's done it for a long time. And I continue to say this, if the worst thing that he's done is forced the Lakers to draft Bronnie and play him and do that whole dog and pony show, that ain't that bad. Most other superstars have done far worse. Far worse. And especially off the court, there's never been a whisper of anything. So I'm Doug Gottlieb in for Colin. Coming up in the Herd, the NFL teams are ready for another season. Are you ready for another season of the Tush push? We'll get into that next in the Herd.

Mark Dominic (27:56)

Be sure to catch live editions of.

Colin Cowherd (27:58)

The Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific, on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartRadio app.

Mark Dominic (28:05)

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Doug Gottlieb (31:34)

Of course, he joins me weekly in the Doug Gottlieb show on FOX Sports Trader. This is the herd filling for Colin on a Memorial Day weekend. Mark, let me, let me ask you why, why would a Ben Johnson say I like explosive plays instead of the tush push?

Jason Stewart (31:49)

I think it just sounds good, right? It's for the fans, right? It's kind of what you were just talking about. It's like I can, I can create something that's more dynamic, more exciting than the tush push, which is, you know, I guess a play that, you know, everybody knows is coming when it gets lined up. So I got to think that's the whole reason he's just trying again state that he can create explosive plays and fans want that.

Doug Gottlieb (32:11)

They're, they're two votes away. So again, how long do you think this play lasts?

Jason Stewart (32:21)

I hope they don't get it. I think the place should last. I mean, it's unique that the Philadelphia Eagles are the only ones that are really good at it, right? And that's, and there's a lot to be said about, you know, their timing and everything coming together and you touched briefly about it. You know, Cam Juergens comes in there and now the starting center built completely different than Kelsey, but a very powerful mauler, but just, you know, a much more higher cut guy where Kelsey was a lower cut, you know, quick twitch. And they had no problem with it because Cam can move mountains. He's a powerful kid. I don't think you should outlaw it. I think it is what it is. And, you know, I think you just got to figure out how to stop it or slow it down. And if you can't do it, then tush, push, stay, get him in third and, you know, three, not third and one.

Doug Gottlieb (33:01)

Mark Dominic's our guest here on in the Herd. I'm Doug Gotti be filling in for calling Brock Purdy's deal. How does the GM look at it?

Jason Stewart (33:09)

Well, I think it's. I think it's not surprising. I think you and I had been talking about, well, I was hoping, you know, this would come in 45 to 50 with incentives, and it comes in around 52. I don't think it's a shocking deal to any general manager. I think they all kind of look at it like, you know what? That's just what the rate is. And obviously he's getting less than the starting rate, quote unquote, for every club. I think it's somewhat of a fair deal across the board. I think it's certainly a good narrative for Brock Purdy and, you know, being Mr. Irrelevant to now signing this deal, to seeing what else is in his chapter of his NFL career. But it's also, you know, Brock Purdy, you know, it's not saying I need the entire bag and I want the bank and this all in that it's good that I think that the 49ers still have a little wiggle room with their roster, even though they just did a contract extension with a quarterback.

Doug Gottlieb (33:58)

Yeah. And I'll see. Also did one with. With Fred Warner. What are your thoughts on the guys they let go? Because one of the thoughts I had was some of those guys they didn't really want back, like Debo Samuel. I don't think they wanted Debo Samuel back anyway. But they made it a casualty of the Brock Purdy thing and it made it much more convenient. What are your thoughts on the percentage of those guys? Name guys that they had to part ways with that they are really kind of over anyway and this just allowed him to do so well.

Jason Stewart (34:27)

I think Debo. I agree with you. I think Debo was give or take, basically the Debo's frustration. Sometimes we've talked about how I feel very strong about what Ricky Pierce is going to do. I think Drake Greenlaw was one they didn't want to let go. I think that one hurt. I think that they really love that kid and what he's been able to do and what he's all been through. I think those are the ones where it kind of burns a little bit, I bet you, for John lynch, but certainly for Coach Shanahan to lose a guy that's, you know, been a warrior for you since you had him. So I think those hurt, but you know, that that's just part of the game. And so they had to make these tough decisions with guys that they do like, you know, Aaron Banks went out and broke, you know, crushed it in Green Bay with a huge contract. Would they like to have Aaron? I'm sure they would have, but I think they realized, hey, look, there's only so many things we can do and, you know, there are certain positions we can't pay and it's going to be hard. You know, Dominic Puni came in and played really good at guard. It's hard to pay guards in the National Football League when you're paying your tackles. It's hard to pay linebackers in the National Football League when you're paying your quarterback. And so they went to the positions that I think are always going to get a little bit more dinged or you can't pay as many guys. And that's linebacker, that's safety, that's running back badly, and that's interior offensive line. You can't pay three guys inside.

Doug Gottlieb (35:35)

We mentioned we're looking for like a phrase for the Saints. Is there any way they're competitive with this roster and with the quarterback play they seem to have?

Jason Stewart (35:45)

I know it's a, you know, it's a tough job for Coach Moore. You know, the personnel there and the cap has been hard. It feels like an angst bag over your head this year for them, I'm afraid. I just, I think the other teams, even the Carolina Panthers, I think, are, you know, trying to improve the roster, working on getting a better and stronger roster, certainly with the wide receiver room. That's the way it is set now in Carolina. This is a team that I just. I don't feel confident in the quarterback class. And when you're the fourth, you know, you're, you're. You've got the worst quarterback of the four teams in your division. That makes for a really long year, and I think that's what the Saints fans have to endure.

Doug Gottlieb (36:23)

What do you think the progression is in Cleveland with, you know, they got. You got four quarterbacks plus desean. But deshaun's had multiple Achilles, so, I mean, the likelihood of him to ever taking a snap again isn't great. But what, what, how is that handled? What's the progression, like, in terms of reps, in terms of opportunities, when you have just four kind of unique quarterback prospects like. Like Flacco and like Trubisky and then obviously the two rookies.

Jason Stewart (36:54)

It's weird. I mean, you look at Flacco, and I would guess that he's going to get the. I mean, he may get first team reps. I know they talked about Kenny Pickett getting first team reps. That's a. Oh, Picket.

Doug Gottlieb (37:04)

Sorry. Yeah, I said Trubisky. My bad.

Jason Stewart (37:06)

It's all right. We talk a lot of sports, don't we? So sometimes you're allowed to get a name and stuff. So, you know, Kenny Pickett, I think, is, you know, probably just going to get an opportunity. I think what's going to happen is Joe Flacco is going to be the one that probably doesn't see as much preseason work. Doesn't see. He'll still get the work, but they don't need to see a lot out of Joe Flacco. I don't think they need to find out the young three to see if they like any of them more than the other. And this will be a chance for Shador. Same with Dillon and Kenny Pickett. I think that they're going to spread it around. They may start each one of those young guys as a starter in the preseason games. Just to give them the start out of the tunnel and say, what do you look like? But certainly it's hard. You know, you get all these reps right now, and certainly camp's gonna be the important part. The stuff we don't get to see, the classroom, the ability to, you know, regurgitate what's going on, you know, in the classroom and be able to, you know, see how they can parlay that to the field is going to be the big difference for all three of these guys. And to see how they can do that. Kenny Pickett's weaknesses, his arm strength and elderly can fix that. Gabriel, you know, to me, there's a little bit of an accuracy thing in Shador. You know, it seems to be handling everything very well right now. I like the way he's been quoted and what he's saying. So I think it's pretty open there.

Doug Gottlieb (38:16)

Yeah, it's. It's a fascinating one. Okay. If you're in Pittsburgh, how long. How much longer do you give Aaron Rodgers to make a call in the steal?

Jason Stewart (38:25)

Yeah, I really want Aaron there for the veteran minicamp dog. I need him there by then to kind of at least take the reins, have the playbook under your belt for, you know, even over the weekend, and just go out there, be around the players before you come back to camp and show up. I think that's really kind of my drop dead time. And so I think you've got, you know, a couple of weeks left here before, you know, Pittsburgh has their veteran minicamp and I would think that that's what they're waiting.

Doug Gottlieb (38:50)

You're in the, you're your same position. You have a Tampa, only in Chicago. You know this story that's come out, the book that's come out with Seth Wickersham talking about Caleb Williams in the draft process where he said, you know, or his dad said, that's where quarterbacks go to die. Want to be a Viking, Obviously they have a tremendous head coach and tremendous system and probably better weaponry. Nonetheless, it doesn't look good, right? You don't ever say you want to be a Viking when you're a Bear. What's the conversation like between GM and starting quarterback?

Jason Stewart (39:22)

Well, I think. I think it's GM and father is what I really would start with. You know, I love the quarterback. Usually I like to let the quarterback handle with the head coach. And then like Coach Johnson talked to him, knowing that, you know, we would talk first and then I would, I would call, you know, the father. I mean, obviously have a conversation with him about, like, what are we, what are we trying to accomplish here? Like, what's the goal? What do you want? Because you're making it harder and there's no reason to make it any harder on your son. That's all you're doing now. You're creating even more fan disappointment. If he struggles, it's going to be even harder for him, you know, and so that's the conversation I'd be having with the dad. Like, we just need to dial everything down. He just needs to go out there, say the right things, do the right things. We've done everything we can for your son. In terms of offensive line, I feel like it's as good as ever been, but, you know, I think it's more of a conversation with the bad and I think the coach handles the player.

Doug Gottlieb (40:14)

Let's circle back. Mark Dominic, our guest here in the Herd. I'm Doug Gottlieb filling in for Colin Brock. Purdy said He's a top 10 quarterback. Is he right?

Jason Stewart (40:25)

As a winner, I'd say yes. As a, As a tools, I would say no. You know, I think, I think if you sit there and say, okay, just give me the winners, I want the guys that are the best of the best and show me what that looks like. Yeah, I think he's in that top 10 conversation. When you think about quarterbacks and like, he's the best quarterback. You know, I think you have to personally, even though you know Jaden Daniels, you know Holmes Allen, you can start going down to some of these guys. Lamar Jackson, obviously, you know, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love. It's hard. Joke burrow. It's hard to get in the top 10, but I think he's very close. But as a winner, I think He's a top 10 quarterback.

Doug Gottlieb (40:59)

Was that the goal of the whole thing? I mean, that's. That's where I'm like, okay, I'll give you. I'll just question. Okay, start at zero. Justin Herbert or Brock Purdy?

Jason Stewart (41:10)

I will take Justin Herbert still.

Doug Gottlieb (41:12)

Okay. And all those other quarterbacks we established. Established previously. Right. You're talking about Josh Allen, Pat Mahomes, whatever.

Jason Stewart (41:22)

Yeah, yeah.

Doug Gottlieb (41:23)

But I do think the difference is, like, well, they already have been San Francisco, so it's. We make it out like you got to choose, but he's. He's very much on the board there. But again, so. So in terms of winner, you're talking about intangibles, whereas he doesn't have the tangibles of a top 10 quarterback. Is that fair?

Jason Stewart (41:39)

That's exactly right. That's how I feel. And then that's the only thing that keeps him, like, do you sit there and say Jalen hurts or shim. You know, there's part that. And maybe he does better than Jalen, but there's. Jalen's been a great winner, you know, since he's been in there. You know, Jayden Daniels, maybe it's a little early to crown him up there and put him that high, but what he was able to accomplish with that Washington roster and his rookie season, it's hard for me not to put him in that conversation with those guys. So. I love Brock 40. You know, I've been a Brock Purdy fan since the beginning, even through the injuries and everything. I thought this was a great story. But he also, you know, just the way he carries himself and handled everything. I'm just saying, from a pure, you know, arm talent, legs talent, Brockford doesn't fall in there, but he's Brock. Pretty worthy of that contract he just signed. Yes, he is.

Doug Gottlieb (42:24)

Interesting, Mark, Great stuff. Enjoy the weekend. Thanks for being our guest on Fox Sports Radio.

Jason Stewart (42:29)

Thank you, Doug. Enjoy the weekend, buddy.

Doug Gottlieb (42:31)

You too. That's Mark dominick. Spent over 20 years the NFL front offices in scouting, and of course, former general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I'll tell you this J. Stuff you had had to know and do. I think it was the sponsor deal. I do. But when he gets Those Toyota Tacoma TRDs for all of his offensive linemen, like that is a bold. Again, has to be a sponsorship deal. But otherwise, you gotta know you're getting paid. Like, you have to know you're not getting paid. You're getting paid. And I am looking both ways before I cross the street. I'm not. I'm. I'm wrapping myself in bubble wrap, right? Because one of those. Those got to run in the 60s, right? So if you go 60 times and you're not just buying, you can't just buy the starting line. And you got to buy all those. All those meatheads, like eight of them, right? Eight of them. You're talking like half a million dollars if. If you're spending your own money on those TRDs. He had to know he was getting paid. That's. Otherwise, it's a bold move when the amount that you're paying in cars for your linemen for protecting you is the same amount you're making per year. Be sure to catch live editions of.

Colin Cowherd (43:42)

The Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific.

Mark Dominic (43:45)

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Doug Gottlieb (46:48)

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Thanks dad.

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Doug Gottlieb (47:12)

Com Doug Alibin for Collins the Hurd Vox boards radio iHeartradio app I think. Look, not everything about the new generation is bad, right? We do this. And if you Listen to the show. I'm Doug Gottlieb. My esteemed producer Jason Stewart joining me today. And Jason, you. You do like to point out how some of the hypocrisies, some of the bizarre stuff that Gen Z is into and how they all have to have their feelings heard and vindicated and how different is from how we were brought up, right? Like we do. It's pretty easy to poke fun at some of this stuff, but. But not all of it is bad, right? Let's. Let's not act like everything in the new generation is bad. And I give you Tyrese Halberton. Tyrese Halberton was an overlooked player, right? AK came. He's from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He went to Iowa State. It wasn't like there was great fanfare, and he just worked and worked and worked. And again, even now with the most overrated player mantra that he carries because of a player poll, he doesn't. Not only does he not shrink from the moment, hitting what was an incredible shot, although he double dribbled. I mean, anybody sees that video, you can say, well, he got fouled, but he also double dribbled. If he gets fouled, then it's two free throws and then the Knicks get the ball back, you know, after the two free throws. But nonetheless, I don't know if you saw this, but Halliburton was asked by ESPN about being the most overrated. He says, I love external motivation. Somebody's talking ish. I want to know because I want to go back at them. And don't get me wrong, talking trash in basketball is as old as the game itself. Although I'm not really sure that doctor, Dr. James Naismith, who invented it for aerobic activity, was, Was really into the trash talking even when he was the least successful coach in the history of Kansas basketball. Right. Like, I don't think he was. I don't think James RNA Smith was a big trash talk guy. But since it became kind of a city game in probably, I don't know, the 30s, 40s, definitely the 50s and 60s, trash talk has been a part of it. And we, I don't know if we try and take it out of it. It's just sometimes the women's stuff is, wow, well over the top. And then, you know, obviously there's moments where, like, his dad coming on the court, like, what are you doing?

Jason Stewart (49:44)

But.

Doug Gottlieb (49:44)

But here's what I do, like from the Gen Z generation is because they've grown up with a phone in their hand because they've grown up where X was Twitter and there were message boards. People have spoken their mind more and said more Bombay bombastic stuff on tv, on radio, online than at any time in our lifetime. Right. I mean, again, go back to how sports was always covered in the 90s, and it was far different. Were people critical of Jordan before he won an NBA title? Yes. But was it was. Was the noise this loud? No. No. And average everyday Joes now feel like they have the ability to say and do whatever they want. It started with message boards and it moved into social media and now they're getting quoted on, on real TV shows. I, I don't know why we do that, but we do. But the point is that between Tyrese Halberton, Anthony Edwards, you know, some of these guys, they have grown up idolizing the Jordans, the Birds, the Kobe's guys who were, who were great trash talkers. And they've grown up in an era where you can kind of say whatever the hell you want. You know, how you, you know, take your shot, talk your ish. And I think Halliburton's a perfect example of it. It's like, do I, if I'm a, if I'm a Pacer coach, do I love that he talks trash? He runs his mouth? Maybe not. But one, it kind of works for him. And two, it kind of fits with this generation. Like, I actually think. J Stew in your, in your weekly evisceration of all things Gen Z, there may be a mea culpa at some point in time because Gen Z, they'll actually say what they think every now and again. More, more often. Now, look, there's some of them get their feelings hurt way worse than previous generations and they make it about things it's not about. But I do think that there's a portion of them that, that matches the kind of message board Twitter trash talk that I actually think is a good thing from this generation.

Colin Cowherd (51:59)

And as a parent of Gen Z, I take full responsibility for how Gen Z is. And just to be clear, I've always said that Gen Z walks around thinking that we owe them happiness all the time. Like, what is it the Declaration of Independence said that our country guarantees you the pursuit of happiness. Gen Z somehow reads that as we guarantee you'll be happy all day. And if you're not, then you can complain. So yeah, the refreshing part of that is you're right. This kid could easily take the high road and be like, I don't listen to the noise. It's all about basketball. I love that.

Doug Gottlieb (52:38)

I go 0 dark 30. I don't listen to any of that stuff.

Colin Cowherd (52:41)

Correct.

Doug Gottlieb (52:41)

I just lock in. Lock in.

Colin Cowherd (52:44)

It's more interesting when they do hear the noise and they acknowledge it and he's literally putting it where his mouth is. I don't even know what that even means, but he's putting it on the court.

Doug Gottlieb (53:00)

Yeah. How does that work? Where you put your money where your mouth is? I want to know the impetus of that expression.

Colin Cowherd (53:06)

And I just use a Gen Z thing and I use literally in the opposite term that it's actually used. So I just fell for that.

Doug Gottlieb (53:14)

Yeah, no, of course you did. And, well, that's what's interesting is they've changed what literally means in the Webster's Dictionary to where it actually. One of the definitions is figuratively. Not actually literally, but. But I digress. The point is that any generation has. You can. You can pick apart negatives about it. Our generation, our parents, their parents. The greatest generation of all time. The greatest generation of all time. Awesome. But let's not act like the world was perfect back with Ozzy and Harriet. All right? And they did, you know, greatest generation was World War I. Right. That's trench warfare. Let's dig a big trench and then let's go take another trench. And everybody dies in between the two trenches. Not the smartest of generations. The greatest generation, though, because of what they did to stand up for. For the right side of history. And with this generation, there's a lot of negatives you point out, but one positive is they will take their shot.

Mark Dominic (54:16)

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Doug Gottlieb (55:35)

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Mark Dominic (55:39)

Thanks dad.

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Doug Gottlieb (56:32)

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.