← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd Podcast Prime Cuts - Lakers Are Limited, Bears Draft Strategy, Kyler’s 2nd Act? Celtics Impress
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- [00:00]
Verizon Advertiser
This is an I Heart podcast.
- [00:02]
Colin Cowherd
Guaranteed human
- [00:05]
Novartis Advertiser
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- [01:06]
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- [01:35]
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Support for the show comes from Public Lately, the line between investing and gambling has started to blur. But let's be real, you can't build actual wealth on a coin flip. That's why Public takes a different approach. It's the investing platform where you can build a serious long term portfolio. Stocks, options, bonds, crypto, they have it all. But unlike platforms that basically just give you a buy button, Public provides actual context. So when you see volatility in your portfolio, you aren't just staring at a chart, you're reading a helpful explanation about why the stock is up or down. You can even go deeper with the built in AI Research Assistant. It's all about giving you the information you need to invest with conviction. Be right More often, go to public.com and earn an uncapped 1% match when you transfer your investments. Public Investing for those who take it seriously Ad paid for by Public Holdings Brokerage Services by Public Investing member FINRA SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors SEC Registered Advisor all investing involves risk of loss. See complete disclosures@public.com disclosures this is Daniel
- [02:40]
Daniel Cormier
Cormier from the Daniel Cormier Show. This podcast is sponsored by Total Wireless, the official wireless partner of ufc. Power doesn't wait in the Octagon or outside of it, you either make the move or you miss the moment. That's why you need a network that's just as powerful as you are. With Total Wireless, you get unlimited 5G data keeping you in the action from the walkouts to the knockouts. Now that's a total power move. Make your total power move today. Visit totalwireless.com or stop by your neighborhood Total Wireless store. Additional terms apply. See totalwireless.com for details.
- [03:16]
Public Investing Advertiser
The volume
- [03:19]
John Middelkoff
Foreign.
- [03:28]
Colin Cowherd
Things Basketball for about the next 30, 35 minutes. And I was thinking about this today. So basketball has a. A very unique place in our sports consumption. We wear. A lot of people wear their favorite basketball player because of shoes and a pair. We don't wear our favorite hockey player unless you buy a stick or something. We don't wear our favorite baseball player, our favorite football player. We're not around wearing cleats to work or at least shouldn't be. But in basketball, it's different. There's a loyalty to your favorite basketball player because it's part of your being. And because of that, I think people are. It's just hard to let go. If you're a Knick fan with all his flaws, it's hard to let go of Carmelo. He's your guy. It's not about, like, a baseball card. It's like, I got his shoes. You know, I've got his apparel. And so I've always thought, like, basketball fans are more loyal to their stars. I'm not talking teams. Fans are all loyal to their teams. They're more loyal to their stars. And I do wonder, because as much as you love the NBA, when somebody's on your team, you see all the warts and the flaws that you don't see on the highlights or YouTube or when they play your team. And now we're a year into Luca, and he's got more technicals than he does defensive stops. I think he's at 13. I think he's at 13. And I was saying this today on the show in FS1 is that of the 22 Laker losses, 19 are blowouts. And the team doesn't have a ton of resilience. When the going gets tough, sometimes they just fold. And I said, I'm not blaming Luca for everything because he's a gifted offensive player, but you do kind of follow the lead of your guy. And even if LeBron had a bad night, he played his ass off. I mean, now is different. For 15 years, Kobe, MJ, they had bad shooting nights they didn't have bad effort nights or bad commitment nights or bad focus nights. And when you watch Luke on a nightly basis, do you think sometimes when he kind of mails it in is the wrong word, he becomes a little dispassionate? They're down 11. He gets a bad call. He's barking at the ref. The Celtics are racing down to the other end of the floor. Do you think part of that makes it hard for him to be a true emotional leader? Not talent. An emotional bedrock player like a. Duncan or an MJ For a franchise or a D. Wade?
- [06:11]
Joe Missoula
Well, to put it very simply, I think if you talk to anybody who covers the Lakers, who roots for them or watches them very closely, Luka's not the emotional leader of the team. It's never been really something that he's particularly gifted at. He's very much a I lead by snatching the other team's heart, and hopefully everyone just gets in line behind me kind of thing. And, you know, it's funny you mentioned the. The dynamic when you're rooting for somebody, because I've experienced this directly. I mean, I cover the league at large. I watched tons and tons of Luka over the course of previous years. I had almost deified him in my head after those playoff performances in 2024 and in 2022. And then when he came to the Lakers, it's not just watching him every day, but also seeing as he's headed into this phase of his career where he's declined a little bit further physically, which is kind of accentuated. Some of these wards. Doesn't have as much burst going to the basket as he used. As he used to. It's crazy. You look back with Luca towards his early career, he used to get a dunk every couple weeks that, like, now it's like he might get one a season. You know what I mean? Like, there's a difference in the level of explosiveness.
- [07:14]
Colin Cowherd
And he's 27. He's 27, isn't he?
- [07:17]
Joe Missoula
I know this should theoretically be the time when he's peaking athletically. This should be when it's all kind of coming together for him. And he has made some improvements over last season when he was downright completely out of shape for most of the season. But, you know, the big thing that stood out to me after covering him very, very closely over the last couple of seasons is how different his floor is compared to the other stars around the league. I would actually argue Luca's ceiling is the highest in the NBA, specifically because he's got that step back three at his size which is basically unguardable. And so you know, Nicole Jokic, there's a certain like, you know, he's not a guy that's going to break you down off the dribble a ton. You know, he's a guy that runs a lot of two man game and works out of the post for the most part. Shay, Gil Alexander doesn't take a ton of threes and so those two guys are much more reliable night tonight. But Luca has this like, oh, but what if he goes 8 for 12 on step back threes kind of thing going on where he just becomes borderline impossible to guard because it's got the efficiency of step Steph Curry with the unguardable step back three that Luka has. Plus he's the short range shot maker that Lou, that Shay and Nicola Jokic are and he's this unbelievable playmaker. But when the step back three is not going in for him, it just becomes a lot more dicey. And like to put it very frank, the difference between him and Shea and him and Jokic at this point is Luca is way more prone to bad games. And when he has a bad game like last night and last night he was actually 4 for 7 from 3 but on, on twos that were away from the rim but inside the three point line. So the mid range stuff he was 1 for 11, which he's typically very good at but wasn't going in last night. He doesn't have like an alternative method to impact the game and that makes it really tough. Like Shay has this rim pressure element. He's so good at beating people off the dribble that raises his floor on a night to night basis. Nicola Jokic, he operates within seven or eight feet from the basket, so he just doesn't deal with the jump shooting variants that a guy like Nicole Jokic does or that Luka Doncic does. And then among all of the stars at the top of the league, you can throw Ant in there, you can throw Wemby in there, Giannis, Luka, Shay Jokic, he's by far the worst defensive player in that group. And so he's so dependent on his ceiling and his ceiling has such a high variance element to it that it just makes him prone to bad nights. And you know, I've been asked this a bunch, like why is Luka Luka. There was the big straw poll that came out with ESPN where they go around and they, they ask all the people who have votes and, and he came back Fifth in MVP voting. And so to put it very simply, this is going to be like the fourth consecutive year where we went into training camp where we're like, Luke is going to get mvp. This is the year. And it's like actually no shot. Like literally no shot. And until he fixes his floor, until he becomes a player that does enough things consistently well night to night that he doesn't have those kinds of bad games, he's never going to be able to compete with the guys at the very top of the league.
- [10:14]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, the. Yeah, it's just I like him and I think he's a remarkable player, but I do think the first thing you said is he is now a more academic player than athletic player. And he is 27. LeBron slowed down at 39 and a half. I mean, honestly, Brady could have still played last year. Like, at 27, he's starting to break down. And that goes to my mellow comp, which is Carmelo's last all NBA season was 28. That's like that.
- [10:53]
Joe Missoula
That's it.
- [10:54]
Colin Cowherd
It's like, yeah, that.
- [10:55]
Public Investing Advertiser
That's it.
- [10:56]
Colin Cowherd
And that's why I always said, like, Dwayne Wade doesn't have nearly the offensive elegance or ceiling of Luca, but man, did he squeeze every ounce out of that. He looked like a, a running back. Like he just there, there was like they always say, like alcohol ages you. And in the NBA, getting in the weight room and really grinding. Extend your. Extend your. Jordan was great every morning. I mean, LeBron James to this day is a weight room warrior. I covered Rasheed Wallace. They, he would pay the fine before the season. Like, I'm not going to go to the weight room. Rasheed was great, good over. And so, you know, I, I was watching Oklahoma City yesterday. They were missing four starters, four really high end players, and they still beat Cleveland, a top seed in the East. And I say this about the Lakers and I, I don't want to go all Lakers here. But regular season football and postseason football is largely the same. The weather gets worse, but you have to be able to run the football. You have to be efficient in the red zone, win the turnover battle. Coaching matters. Postseason baseball, regular season baseball need good starting pitching, one good closer. Situational hitting can't be bad. Defensively, don't have to be great, can't be bad. NBA is different. The NBA, the regular season is not the postseason. First of all, the post season becomes much more situational. And getting baskets and buckets matters more than the high volume of threes. Right. Like in the regular season, the math is shoot threes, defend, you're going to win a lot of games. And so I think the Lakers are a little bit of fool's gold. I think they're built for the regular season. I think if they walk into town, you're not rested. Austin, LeBron Luca can really be a handful. Especially if like Austin's hitting, it's like, oh shit, okay, now we have our hands full, but if I can play you five times, we're equally rested and I can hunt Luka or Harden or Austin. It's a different, it's a different team. Last year Minnesota did this. Remember we went into that series thinking it's gonna be a six game series and you watch it and you're like, wow, this is a mismatch. Do you see this? Where this Laker team, it can be elegant and beautiful. The spacing's good. I think Reddick's a really good offensive coach in close games. The clutch numbers I think are still remain very good, but they are not built for the playoffs. They are, they are. They have no bench. I mean not that bench is everything. They don't have a great bench. They don't protect the rim. They don't have. This is well documented athletic wings. Is that we're people in Los Angeles. They're going to get a, they're going to be a four seed in the west, but they're not really a true 4 seed. They're like the Miami Dolphins when they made the playoffs with tua. Nobody thought they're going to go up north in the cold and win a playoff game. It's like they have no chance to do that. The Lakers really have no chance. With the depth of okc, the defense of Oklahoma City facing Jokic, they really have no chance against those teams in a long series. Or am I totally off?
- [14:11]
Joe Missoula
No, you're, I mean you're, you're in line with the consensus there. I think like the, the, the metrics that come out from this Lakers team make them stick out like a sore thumb among the other good teams in the league. And it really comes down to that dynamic you're talking about. The Lakers are great at one thing half court offense. They're the third best in the league behind Denver and Oklahoma City. And it's because they have these unbelievable shot creators that can go nuclear in any given night. But that is a large sample size trend. It is an issue like the offense did not look good last night against Boston. And really the problem when you look at this Lakers team is they have chewed up and spit out every bad team in the league and that has carried their record. So here's some crazy stats for you, Colin. The Lakers this season, when they play teams in the bottom 10 in point differential, they're 18 and 2, which is tied with Oklahoma City for the best in the entire NBA. That means they're 16 and 20 against the rest of the league. So they are below.500 against anybody that's not in the bottom third of the NBA. Even as you zoom individually in on it, just against the top 10 teams in point differential, they are getting outscored by 13 points per game, which ranks 28th in the NBA. Only the Wizards and that Brooklyn Nets team have been worse when they're playing the good teams. It's funny if you look at all the teams just in their games against the top 10 teams in the league. So just erase all the filler games in the schedule and just look at the benchmark test, just the measuring sticks. The top nine teams are all the teams you'd expect to see among contenders. Detroit's number one. Minnesota is number two. They're always. They've been my sneaky championship contender this season. I love them. Oklahoma City, Houston, San Antonio, Boston, Cleveland, New York and Denver. That's the top nine. That's what you would expect to see. And then it's all the way down to number 28 is the Lakers. Like that's literally what you're talking about with this team. They have been consistently outclassed in these matchups. And the reason why is there is a clear game plan for how to beat the Lakers. And all of the good teams understand this game plan and they execute it well. Number one, ball pressure. If you pick the Lakers up full court, you'll wear them down. Boston did this all night last night. Even on every possession they didn't pick up Luka. You see Missoula yelling and screaming and pointing like, pick him up, pick him up. Like they just, they want to pick up full court the entire game. Why? The Lakers allow 19 points off of turnovers per game. That's the seventh most in the entire NBA. If you pick them up full court, you'll turn them over, you'll get out in transition. Two deep drop coverage. Boston did this last night. Just have Vuchevic and Nimi Cada sit way back at the basket, chase Luka and Austin off the three point line and funnel them into the rim. It allows you to stay home off the ball and force them to take all of those tough contested twos that's where Luka is always trying to draw fouls and stuff. Their offense can fall apart in that sense. That's a big part of why the Lakers can't get quality three point shots up. That specific defensive look and then lastly run on them like crazy. Cleaning the Glass has this catch all metric they use for transition defense. They call it transition points added per 100 possessions. The Lakers literally ranked dead last in that stat against teams in the top against teams in the top 10 and point differential. So pick them up, full court, run on them all day, run that deep, drop coverage. You're not just going to beat the Lakers, you're going to make them quit and blow them out by 20. It is a consistent game plan that we have seen all season long from the good teams against the Lakers and they just fall apart in that play style. And so honestly, like when you see something over and over and over and over again and like last night was another chance they could have beat Boston and change the narrative a little bit. Nope. The exact same damn thing happened again and that just keep keeps happening all season. And when you're that bad against the good teams, when all of the other good teams are good against the good teams, that's a giant red flag for your hopes in this case.
- [18:04]
Colin Cowherd
You know, it's interesting. I'm watching the Celtics and when you watch the Celtics, I mean they got three guys that 90% of the league, you know, they got some Sam Housers now playing big minutes. They got three guys that like don't have NBA resumes that anybody outside of Boston knows. But I will tell you that I thought they'd be fine without Jayson Tatum. I did not think they'd be this good defensively without him. And they're not quite as good offensively without him, which makes sense. But when I said I don't think he's face of the league, it was mostly an aura thing. It wasn't a game thing. I think his game's good. I mean he's a really, really high end player. Are you surprised though? They're 8 and 2 in their last 10. Their defensive metrics are excellent. I mean, basically Chris Broussard said it to an end. My show, they have two rules. Shoot threes and play your ass off defensively. Like that's it. It's very simple. Like play hard on the defensive end and shoot threes. Are you surprised? They are still a. I think Detroit probably wins the east, but they're still viable. They're playing well. They haven't dropped off A ton offensively. I mean, Porzingis has gone in a trade, Drew Holiday's gone, Tatum's out, and you're like, no, they're okay, they're fine. It's the same kind of team. They're not quite as athletic. Are you surprised?
- [19:16]
Joe Missoula
I think everyone's surprised that they're as good as they have been. I think that I think most of us expected them to be just kind of a middle team in the east, like in that 5 to 8 range, like win more games than you'd think. But like, I think both Indiana and Boston have been shocking in opposite directions. Like we all thought Boston and Indiana would be kind of in the middle. Indiana went completely into the tank and Boston is still competing for a championship. And honestly, if it wasn't for JB Bickerstaff having a really clear coach of the year case just because of how good the Pistons would have been. Joe Missoula is an awesome coach of the year candidate because I think this season has been a testament to the basketball culture that he's built. Again, you're in the mid second quarter, you're beating up on the Lakers like you're dominating the game. You've been doing your job all night long. In one time, someone didn't pick up Luka as he's dribbling in front of the Celtics bench. And you could see Joe demonstratively like yelling at his guys to get over there and pick him up. There is a, an accountability that he has established with this group where this is the expectation if you're going to play for me, this is what you've got at do. And it goes even deeper than the ball pressure. Like they crash out of the corner so well. This is a team that you would have thought would have tanked as a rebounding team because you lose Tatum and you lose your entire center rotation. No, they win the rebound battle. They, they win the second chance points battle every night because their guards are so scrappy, coming out of the corners, getting offensive rebounds. And then the last thing that I think is super impressive with Boston, Colin, they lost Drew Holiday, Jason Tatum, Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis.
- [20:47]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
- [20:47]
Joe Missoula
And they have a 120 offensive rating, their second best offense in the NBA. And I think that's where like, honestly, for all the talk about Joe Missoula's offense and then like hunting threes, Joe Missoula never said take bad threes. He wanted to run quality offense for good looks from three. And what's happening is over the years They've gotten better and better at running his system. And even though those guys are all out of the lineup, Howzer's been there a long time. Pritchard's been there a long time. Derek White's been there a long time. Jalen Brown's been there a long time. Even Kate has been there for a few years now. And so there's some continuity in this system. They know how they want to play. And so honestly, like, if you look at the strongest basketball cultures in the NBA, Boston has clearly demonstrated this year that they are one of those teams. And as far as their chances this year goes, I view Detroit, New York, Boston, and Cleveland all kind of in the same tier. I lean very slightly Cleveland because I just think they're a very complete team after the trades they made, not just Harden, but the other deals they made at the deadline. But Boston absolutely has a shot to come out of the East. And I mean, it really just comes down how good Tatum is when he comes back, if he comes back and he's all NBA Tatum. They have a big experience advantage. They have a big continuity advantage. Those guys have been in so many big games.
- [22:01]
Colin Cowherd
Do we know exactly when he's coming back? Do we. Do we know for sure?
- [22:05]
Joe Missoula
The rumor is, like, early March, so I would assume, like, I mean, I'm. I mean, he's was. He was photographed practicing with the team literally just a couple days ago. He's already been doing five on five for, I think, a couple weeks now. So I think we're like a week or two out from him coming back. And, like, he addresses a very specific need because the one thing they don't really have is a big forward because Jalen Brown's very much A3. And then they have these, like, role player forwards, you know, guys like Jordan Walsh that can play a little bit, but it's like, they don't have, like, a big, strong forward that's really switchy and can defensive rebound and stuff. Like, if you remember when Boston won the title, the way they won the title is Tatum guarded the other team's center every single game. They don't really have that right now. If Tatum can come back and provide all of those elements, and really just the big thing I'd worry about is him janking up the offense just because it's a weird rhythm thing to add a new player like that. But as, yeah, if he can fit in.
- [23:02]
Colin Cowherd
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- [24:28]
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- [25:58]
Colin Cowherd
All right, two truths in a lie Here we go. I went to college with college football coach Jim McElwain, I began my broadcasting career doing play by play for the Las Vegas Stars, and I've been a Verizon customer for 15 years. Okay, I lied. All three are true. Verizon isn't as expensive as you think. In fact, if you bring in your ATT or T Mobile bill to a Verizon store, they'll give you a better deal. That's right, a better deal on the best network with the most ways to save on plans, streaming and phone deals. So take that AT and T or T Mobile. Build to your local Verizon store today, get a better deal and start saving based on root metrics. Best overall Mobile Network Performance US Second Half 2025 all rights reserve must provide reason Consumer Mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms, conditions and restrictions apply.
- [26:47]
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Daniel Cormier
Huh.
- [26:50]
Colin Cowherd
I wonder if this can beat the market. Everyone's talking about the NASDAQ 100, but let's get more specific. Software actually, too broad. How about software that's already profitable? Companies that beat the last five quarters? Oh, and I want founders who are marathon runners. That's discipline. Yeah, let's see what that looks like.
- [27:14]
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- [28:09]
Colin Cowherd
All right, I thought I'd bring in former NFL scout John Middelkoff, 3 and out, who spent a couple of days at the combine. And it's real deal making for the three days people are in, the executives are in Indianapolis. It is a lot of late nights, John. Can you confirm that it's late nights and early mornings?
- [28:31]
John Middelkoff
Yeah, it was. It Was a lot, Colin. These guys are letting it rip. You know, in fairness, it's not a normal life they lead, especially the coaches. The six months you get to the combine, which by all accounts has tamed down dramatically from where it was. I think pre cell phones, it's nothing too crazy, but I mean, it's. It's an event unlike. I mean, you have every NFL head coach out to dinner, out to cocktails, out with each other, every gm, every assistant gm. Think about all the coordinators now that used to be head coaches that are pretty famous. Walking around Indianapolis isn't exactly. I mean, there's not that many places to go. So safe to say the JW Marriott is, Is. Is. Is ripping every night. So I had to get out of there, Colin, because I couldn't last more than 48 hours.
- [29:23]
Colin Cowherd
Let's talk first. John Snyder. I saw you sat down with him, the Seattle gm. I think he's being now fairly regarded as maybe the best drafting GM in the league. There's a lot of different skills. There's free agency, there's trading. Howie Roseman's probably the most aggressive. I don't think you can deny that John Snyder is the best drafting gm. If you look at his track record really since Pete left and he completely, absolutely took over the entire draft. But he's got some tough decisions to make. Kenneth Walker is. You know, there's going to be a market for Kenneth Walker. Teams like Kansas City in the AFC need a running back, and it's a bad running back draft. But give me your kind of sense of how John's feeling and the kind of the crest he's kind of riding now.
- [30:08]
John Middelkoff
Yeah, I think his personality feels the same whether he won the super bowl or whether you would see him when they would get bounced in the first round. Yeah, obviously he's pretty elated coming to this, to this combine. One thing he mentioned is he's. Because they just went. I mean, they were playing two weeks ago. He's behind on the draft. He spent all of his energy getting ready for free agency. They have a ton of money. I personally would probably let Kenneth Walker walk.
- [30:34]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
- [30:35]
John Middelkoff
Unless it's a relatively. I mean, two years, $15 million or something. But when you start bidding for a running back, they draft him in the second round. But up until the second half of this year, he's kind of had an underwhelming career. And you bring in Flurry from the Niners, who, the Kubiak Shanahan system, you can kind of find running backs. So I. My Guess would be they're definitely not franchise tagging them. Like whenever I see the jets are going to franchise tag Breece hall, it's like the jets are going to franchise tag a running back. Not even the jets would do that. Come on, guys, right, let's, let's use some common sense here. So Seattle's riding high. I got to meet Mike McDonald, talk to him. He's really, really impressive. I mean, they got, they got something pretty special going in Seattle because they have a ton of cap space, they have a ton of young players under contract. They're, I would say their confidence in Sam the person. I mean, you've talked about this. You know, clearly the player like, like most players not named John Elway or Peyton Manning aren't going to be great 99% of games. But I think they are all in on the human being. And I think what they learned down that stretch, that Thursday night game against the Rams, when he flipped it and then up until the Super Bowl, I think they're feeling pretty confident in their quarterback.
- [31:51]
Colin Cowherd
What's also interesting now is because there's so many good offensive coaches that you are seeing quarterbacks like Baker and Darnold have a second life if you can land your Liam Cohen. I mean, Trevor Lawrence made a big leap this year and I think, you know, these guys off the Sean McVeigh tree, the Kyle Shanahan tree, you know, they go places and they change the arc of quarterbacks careers. Sam Darnold bust to star to super bowl champion. I mean, Baker Mayfield, you know, resurrected his dip. Kyler Murray and Tua are different. Tua can't stay healthy and is really limited physically. Kyler, as a story out this week, he hasn't Talked to the GMs at the end of the season, so he's not terribly verbal. Their commission commitment issues, their health issues. And even though we're in a league now where you do get second teams and second runs, you know Arizona well. Does Kyler have a market? I mean, there's such bad pr.
- [32:58]
John Middelkoff
Someone told me this week that Kyler Murray and his camp, they want to go to Minnesota. Well, Aaron Rodgers wanted to go to Minnesota too. Most quarterbacks do. I can't imagine Kevin o' Connell wanting Kyler Murray. Kyler Murray is at the point if he truly wants to resurrect his career, he's made a ton of money at this point, right? Number one overall pick got this huge deal that is now an albatross. Makes him untradable if he gets cut, which he's Going to. Why not? Surely, you know, the Ravens, the Chiefs, some of one of those type teams would be like, hey, we'll take you for the veteran minimum if Andy Reid calls or something. You would be crazy not to make a decision to go there and potentially maybe rehab your image because he, he does have a branding problem right now. I, I would say throughout the league, he's not viewed very highly as a player on or off the field. Not like bad like some of these guys to get in trouble, but just, yeah, we don't want to deal with that. That's, I would say the number one thing you, you hear talking to these guys. Yeah, we got to deal with this with our defensive linemen. You've talked about this forever with wider. They do not want to deal with the quarterback room. I mean the quarterback room better be like your coaches, better be like your executives. Just high level professionals. I never even think about you. I have to deal with immaturity in some other positions, not the quarterback position. Imagine if you just go to Andy Reid for a year. You know, Kevin, Sam Darnold did this. Daniel Jones kind of did this when he got cut by the Giants and just rehab his image. And then by the end of the year, maybe you play, maybe you don't, but you have an Andy Reid type guy and I'm just using him as example. You could do Sean Payton, you could use whoever would be interested that's established and go, we love that guy. That was a great experience being around him. Then that changes the arc of the way the league thinks about you. Because being there, the league is one. It's like a high school. Everyone knows everybody and everybody talks to everybody. And you could probably play one degree of separation. You just put Mike Silver in the middle. He's, he knows they all know each other and all the information on what a guy is and isn't as a person. You know, one thing, one of my big takeaways is we can get in the draft. Why this pick makes it, why this free agency or, you know, guy didn't work. This, this is a people business and the teams that are good have just really high level people right on the coaching staff. I mean, I hear some stories, Colin, about position coaches making millions of dollars that get title stripped in the middle of the season and throw a hissy fit and won't go to meetings. It's not just the players. These assistant coaches egos are enormous. Now. You got a lot of personalities and the best teams are just. I hear stories about Kellen Moore or Kubiak you're like, I see why these guys are having success. Just easy to deal with. High level guys get along high EQs, you know, and clearly, you know, the league has kind of been defined of you need a few crazies on your team, but you better have a high character operation from a football character standpoint or you got no shot.
- [36:02]
Colin Cowherd
Ben Johnson and Mike Vrabel turned it around in one year. I saw that you ran into Ben Johnson. I mean he's got to be. They have a really interesting situation where they know exactly what they need. They need some help in the linebacker core. They're not fast enough and they need a rush end. But I mean they've really. John, they could literally use every draft pick on defense. They don't have a hole offensively, maybe another tackle in the building, but receiver, tight end, back, quarterback, interior, O line and really good. I mean, was Ben walking on cloud nine in a pretty, pretty good mood?
- [36:38]
John Middelkoff
Well, I use you because sometimes, you know, it's easy if you know the guy to start a conversation. When you don't, you gotta, you gotta come with a little material. So I had you in my back pocket. I dropped your name early and he said that he'd seen you, he thought at a restaurant. And I said, ben, I can't believe you didn't go talk to him. You guys would have been breaking down offense, football. He started laughing and people like, I'd never see Ben Johnson smile. I'm like, well, I got that magic touch because I used you. And we'll have to link you up. The Bears, I talked to Ryan polls, you know, they feel like they got a pretty good, those two guys. You know, Ryan had some bumps early.
- [37:16]
Colin Cowherd
He did some personnel moves. No, I've said that Chase Claypool thing didn't work, but receivers are a hard acquisition. It's just a tough position. Then he redeemed himself with a DJ Moore deal.
- [37:27]
John Middelkoff
And as a gm, you look way better with a good coach. I mean, you just do. So now you get a guy who, I mean, I think one thing you beat up this combine the, the status of Ben Johnson and Mike McDonald in 12 months span. Like if you would have been there last year to where they are this year, it just couldn't be any higher. The way they're thought of in terms of coaching on the field is extremely high. And I would expect DJ Moore is going to be a name that we're going to see over the next week potentially because they're going to have to move an offensive piece they don't have many draft picks, you know, to kind of retool this thing. And they let in one of their linebackers I saw seek a trade. The other thing is that division, you know, I make fun of the Vikings because of their quarterback situation, as most people do. We talk about the Lions taking a big step back. Both those teams went nine and eight. I mean, both those teams, the Vikings and the Lions are pretty well established culture with really good players. Their floor is extremely high. And if the packers just can keep some guys healthy, clearly they're one of the best teams in the league. So that division from the Bear standpoint is really, really difficult. And the Bears, who have been atrocious, now we're going to get a first place schedule. It is going to be more challenging and they're going to sneak up on nobody. Which when you see Ben, he's wired for that. Like I don't think he's, he's not resting on his laurels. He is, you can just tell a lot by the way guys carry themselves, you know, the Harbaugh brothers or Variable, like they're, they're so comfortable in their own skin. But some of these new guys, the newfound fame, like when my, when, when Ben Johnson walks in somewhere, he's really famous now. And to me he just carries himself like he looks the exact same as he carried himself a year ago. And I would say the same thing with Mike McDonald. Their personality, like this, the. No ego. I was talking to him last night and just going, this guy won a Super bowl like three weeks ago. And you would absolutely, you would never know if you brought some guy off the street that didn't know football and you just met this guy, you would have no clue that this guy is the super bowl champion and the, the toast of the town right now in the NFL. So I would feel pretty confident if I'm the Bears, but they do like there are a lot of. Because the cap is so big right now, there are so many options with trades. And I talked to Howie about this. When I first started working for Howie in 2010, he was on the forefront of the NFL forever. Wasn't that trade heavy?
- [39:55]
Colin Cowherd
Oh, God, no. Before the Jimmy Johnson trade, the Herschel Walker teams didn't trade.
- [40:00]
John Middelkoff
Yeah, the historic trades stand out so much like the 80s and 90s because they didn't happen that much. Howie was ready to trade like an NBA Major League Baseball gm, but the rest of the league wasn't. And then now you, you fast forward 15 plus years in the mid-2020s, all these GMs, or the majority of them are kind of like him. They're ready to trade. So people are willing to, hey, you want this guy? You want to trade draft picks, you want to do this? So there is just a lot of action, which I think stalls some deals because it gets so expensive. It's like a house. If you only have one guy bidding on the house, you know, you probably can dictate the terms a little bit. You got seven people waiting out on the, on the front of the street to buy the house, that that price is going to skyrocket. And I think that happens with some of these deals. I've been saying this about Max Crosby. Like Brear told me, he's like, I don't think they're going to get two ones. I'm like, well, he's under contract and there would be minimum 5 high level playoff teams who would be bidding on them. So, yeah, in theory, you'd be like a one and a two. Well, if five teams are bidding against each other, like, the reason McCaffrey went for a two, three and a four is because the Rams also wanted them. So the Niners had to put in a little bit more the way it works. So that's where I think that historically, 20 years ago, yeah, Max Crosby probably just goes for a one.
- [41:18]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
- [41:18]
John Middelkoff
But now you have all these GMs that are lined up to wheel and deal, and that's cool, like you're there. This is a Wheeler in a dealer league. This is a, this is a league where, you know, these, the John Schneider types that you got to be great at identifying personnel. You got to be dynamic wheeling, you got to be willing to make moves. It is much more, I would say, complicated. Now you got all the money, you got to lean on your salary cap guy. It's a pretty intense environment. When you're there, you just realize the pressure cooker of this thing. I mean, I'm watching Aaron Glenn do a press conference. I'm like, God, I wouldn't want to be that guy right now. He's got to be thinking like, get me out of here. I mean, this is. Even Veach, you know, you could just say there's just a weight to all this stuff. I mean, this is, this is a long, intense week because it lays the foundation for next week where that, you know, that tampering period, it's just full go. And these Drew Rosenhaus, these guys are ready to do a deal and get moving
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Colin Cowherd
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Colin Cowherd
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Colin Cowherd
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Colin Cowherd
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