Hour 1 - Where will Shedeur Sanders land?

Summary

The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Episode: Hour 1 - Where Will Shedeur Sanders Land?
Release Date: April 3, 2025
Host: Colin Cowherd (iHeartPodcasts and The Volume)

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1. NFL Draft Prospects: Shedeur Sanders and Quarterback Evaluations

The episode opens with a deep dive into the NFL Draft landscape, focusing particularly on quarterback prospects and the shifting betting odds surrounding Shedeur Sanders.

Shador Sanders' Draft Slide:
J. Mac [10:25]:
"Travis Hunter has moved ahead of Shador Sanders in the betting odds to be the number three pick. Shador's falling as we approach the draft, and quarterbacks generally move up as the draft nears."

The discussion highlights concerns about Sanders' maturity and lack of standout "wow" factors that scouts look for in top-tier quarterbacks. Comparisons are drawn to past quarterbacks like Eli Manning and Patrick Mahomes, emphasizing that team success in college isn't always indicative of professional potential.

Comparing Quarterback Traits:
J. Mac [11:35]:
"Shador created offense on his own with average teammates, much like Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes did. It's not about wins and losses; it's about individual talent and potential."

The panel debates whether teams should prioritize raw talent over team performance, suggesting that Sanders' ability to generate offense independently is a valuable trait despite his current draft position.

2. MLB Analysis: Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers’ Bullpen Woes

Transitioning to Major League Baseball, the conversation shifts to Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers' bullpen strategies.

Ohtani's Dual Threat:
Joy Taylor [8:15]:
"Every single night, Ohtani does something special. His versatility makes him indispensable, even if the team doesn't always win."

Dodgers’ Bullpen Challenges:
J. Mac [10:08]:
"Once you get to the seventh, eighth inning, you better have a strong bullpen or it's over. The Dodgers have been leading in comeback wins but struggle to hold leads in the late innings."

The panel discusses the Dodgers' reliance on their bullpen to secure victories, noting that while they excel during comebacks, consistency in the later innings remains a concern.

3. NBA Showdown: Lakers vs. Warriors Breakdown

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to the highly anticipated regular-season matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors.

Key Player Matchups:
Joy Taylor [19:40]:
"Jimmy Butler’s impact on the Warriors is undeniable. Against Luka Doncic, Butler can lock him down, which is crucial for the Lakers' defense."

J. Mac [21:08]:
"With the Warriors going 18-2 when Curry and Butler play, this game is pivotal for the Lakers to secure a better standing in the West."

Strategic Insights:
J. Mac [21:21]:
"If the Lakers win this, they could separate themselves from the Warriors in the standings, positioning themselves strongly for the playoffs."

The hosts analyze the strengths and weaknesses of both teams, focusing on defensive strategies and the influence of star players like LeBron James and Steph Curry.

4. Baltimore Ravens’ Future and Steve Bisciotti’s Vision

The discussion moves to the Baltimore Ravens, exploring owner Steve Bisciotti's long-term vision for the team.

Team Performance and Leadership:
Joy Taylor [22:20]:
"The Ravens have been the best regular-season team in the NFL for three straight years, but translating that into playoff success remains a challenge."

J. Mac [23:11]:
"In the regular season, they've blown out more top 10 teams than anyone else, but the playoff performances haven't matched up."

The panel debates the Ravens' ability to maintain their regular-season prowess while addressing shortcomings in high-stakes playoff scenarios.

5. Cleveland Browns’ Leadership and Deshaun Watson Controversy

Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam's recent comments about the Deshaun Watson deal spark a conversation about leadership and team culture.

Owner’s Admission and Team Dynamics:
Colin Cowherd [25:06]:
"We've challenged Miles Garrett because we want to see his practice habits improve and him become a real leader of the team. What are we doing by challenging him publicly?"

Impact on Team Morale:
Joy Taylor [25:27]:
"Insinuating that a top player isn't a leader can demoralize the team. Leadership isn't always about being vocal; sometimes it's about leading by example."

The hosts critique the Browns' management approach, questioning the effectiveness of public challenges to star players and its impact on team cohesion.

6. Aaron Rodgers’ Potential Move to the Steelers and Team Implications

Speculation about Aaron Rodgers possibly signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers leads to an analysis of the team's outlook.

Steeler’s Win Projections with Rodgers:
J. Mac [31:03]:
"If Rodgers joins the Steelers, their over/under on wins might adjust from eight and a half to nine and a half, considering Rodgers’ experience."

Joy Taylor [31:08]:
"This move could potentially push the team's win total higher, but integrating Rodgers into an already established system presents challenges."

Comparison with Past Quarterbacks:
J. Mac [31:46]:
"Aaron Rodgers has had a slower regression compared to other great quarterbacks, and his fit with the Steelers could either stabilize or complicate their offensive strategies."

The segment explores how Rodgers' addition might alter the Steelers' dynamics, questioning whether his leadership and skill set align with the team's needs.

7. Chicago Bears’ Offensive Strategy Under New Coach Ben Johnson

The hiring of Ben Johnson as the new offensive coach for the Chicago Bears brings a fresh perspective to the team's strategy.

EPA Metrics and Offensive Improvements:
Colin Cowherd [42:10]:
"We should be examining what our government spends its money on and are these jobs necessary and what are we doing here?"

Joy Taylor [42:22]:
"With Ben Johnson's expertise in Expected Points Added (EPA), the Bears can better evaluate each play's effectiveness and make strategic adjustments quickly."

Assessing Caleb Williams' Performance:
J. Mac [48:34]:
"Caleb Williams' integration into the Bears' offense will be clear within the first few games. If he doesn't look like a franchise quarterback by early October, the Bears might reconsider their strategy."

The hosts analyze the potential impact of Johnson's analytical approach on the Bears' offensive playbook, emphasizing the importance of early performance indicators to determine the quarterback's future with the team.

8. Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks

As the episode wraps up, the hosts recap the key discussions, emphasizing the dynamic nature of sports drafts, team strategies, and player performances. They encourage listeners to stay tuned for upcoming episodes and continue following "The Herd" for in-depth sports analysis.

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Notable Quotes:

• J. Mac [10:25]:
  "Shador moved ahead of Travis Hunter in the betting odds to be the number three pick."

• Joy Taylor [22:20]:
  "The Ravens have been the best regular-season team in the NFL for three straight years."

• J. Mac [31:03]:
  "If Rodgers joins the Steelers, their over/under on wins might adjust to nine and a half."

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This episode of The Herd with Colin Cowherd offers comprehensive insights into current sports dynamics, player evaluations, and team strategies, providing listeners with a thorough understanding of the latest developments across the NFL, NBA, and MLB.

Transcript

[Colin Cowherd]

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[Joy Taylor]

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[Jeremy Hobson]

We live in a divided country, and our media couldn't be more polarizing. That's why we started the Middle with Jeremy Hobson. It's about bringing voices not from the extremes, but from the vast middle into the national conversation. Each week we hear from ordinary Americans from all over the country. And when you subscribe to the Middle, you also get an episode each week called One Thing Trump did that focuses on just one item from the avalanche of news. Listen to the Middle with Jeremy Hobson on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Gilbert King]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in in Bone Valley Season one.

[Colin Cowherd]

Every time I hear about my dad, it's oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

[Gilbert King]

I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known.

[Colin Cowherd]

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.

[Gilbert King]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2 starting April 9 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Joy Taylor]

Thanks for listening to the Herd podcast, be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and noon to 3 Eastern, 9am to no Pacific. Find your local station for the [e-mail] or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to FOX Sports Radio. Oh, it's good for Thursday show. It is a very good Thursday show. Yeah. Lakers, warriors tonight, actually a huge regular season game. Things are cooking in LA where Shohei Odani pulled off his magic again last night. Dodgers. Once you get to the seventh, eighth inning, you better have a strong bullpen or it's over. It doesn't matter what the score is. J. Mac is joining me on a Thursday today. So the story, you know, whether it's politics or sports or the Oscars, keep your eye on the betting odds because it does always feel like people in Vegas or people overseas have a little bit of insight and they're in the rumor business. But a lot of times where there's smoke, there's fire. So J. Mac, Travis Hunter has moved ahead of Shador Sanders, the Colorado quarterback, in the betting odds to be the number three pick. So we know Cam Ward's going one and it looks like Shador Sanders is falling, which is generally the closer you get to a draft. Quarterbacks, they move up. Last year, remember Mel Kuiper said a week before the draft Bo Nix and Michael Penix are high second round picks. Well, Penix went 8 and Bo Nicks went 12 to Denver. So you know, a lot of times you hear as the draft gets closer and this year we have a scarcity of good quarterbacks and Cleveland and the Giants look like they really need them. So people aren't into Shador Sanders. I think there's two things. I think number one, there's enough video out there like you had with, you had this with Caleb Williams where there's some stuff where old school general managers are not going to like it. You know, you've got a little bit of immaturity. There's the watch pose against Arizona State and a couple teams. Old school guys won't like that and there's not enough wow like Caleb Williams had. There's not enough wow to go okay, forget about it. You know, he's young, nil money, little into himself, whatever. So I think there's not enough wow. And there's a little bit of the Caleb immaturity stuff that old school GMs don't like. But I will say this. I go back to something that I think is really important. Colorado had very weak talent. And even though Shador is one in seven against ranked teams while at Colorado, he was wildly productive. 19 touchdowns, four picks, 300 yards a game, completed 70%. So he was swimming in mediocre, mediocre teammates. And yet he was creating offense on his own, running and moving. Everybody tells me I can't move, he's not athletic. Well, I watched he moved. I mean, he at least moved as well as like Bo Nix, who I think moves better than people give him credit for. So no support in college, didn't win games necessarily. Eli Manning wasn't dominating in college football. Patrick Mahomes wasn't winning games in college football. Josh Allen wasn't winning games in college football. But they were creating offense out of thin air with very average teammates. That impresses me. I'm not saying he's Allen or Mahomes. I'm saying I don't look at wins and losses. That's not what I look at. John Elway didn't win a lot of games in college. Okay. You know, Trevor Lawrence won almost all his games. So did Tua. So my track record on quarterbacks, I, I think I'm pretty good at the quarterback thing. Here's quarterbacks who people liked much more than me. Zach Wilson. You know, I didn't like Zach Wilson. Daniel Jones, Mitch Trubisky, Tim Tebow, tua, Johnny Manziel. I was like, I'm not high on these guys. I don't see great first round talent. I did like guys where there were a lot of skeptics. I like Justin Herbert, I like Bo Nix. And I think I've been proven right to some degree on Sam Darnold. You know, you all think I hated Baker. No, I said Baker is a franchise quarterback. I wouldn't draft him at number one. And I think I've been proven right. He's probably not a number one. Little immature at the time. He's grown up. He's now good. So I would draft Shador Sanders if I needed him. I think you have to reach most of the time on quarterbacks. I also think where you land if you're kind of a B plus prospect, which should do or is has a lot to do with it. And Brian Dabel is an offensive coach and Kevin Stefanski is a good offensive coach. I think he would do well with both of those. Here's what Todd McShay said yesterday about him. I like Shador Sanders. A lot. Doesn't have a huge arm, does not have mobility. I think that's the biggest mistake in the evaluation, at least early in the process. His instincts in terms of the pocket and kind of extending and drifting and always looking for the home run and not taking the short change, those sorts of things he'll manage through. And if people don't like him, what they say is he has some of the bad habits that Caleb Williams had that cause and problems as a rookie. But he doesn't have the arm or any, is a fraction of the athleticism. But the people who love him love the fact that he's the best pure passer in terms of touch, timing, layering the football. And he's the fastest processor in this class. Yeah, those matter a lot. Upstairs processes fast and he's accurate. Isn't that the Brock Purdy story? Isn't it? Well, Colin, he went. That's the story. It's the guys that struggle processing quickly and are kind of so, so accurate. So I'm not a big fan of Jackson Dart. I think it is accurate. If you're not super accurate with Lane Kiffin as your coach in college, I, I do not trust you in the NFL. So Shador Sanders, his dad was a db. Okay. He didn't have all Americans outside of Travis Hunter. He was really productive like Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes with average teammates. I like him, I draft him. Okay. So it was sh otani bobblehead night. People got in line like you know, eight in the morning and sat there all night. And of course he delivered eventually. So one of my favorite trends by stars in sports is I know money matters. I'm not naive. They want to play for winners. Shohei wanted to play for a winner. You know, Mike Trout is an all time talent, but he currently leads all active major league baseball players. Mike Trout does in home runs, in losses, he's invisible in Anaheim. I think he should have gone years ago back to the East Coast. Shohei deserved the Dodgers big brand, iconic, well funded. They can put great batters around him. LeBron deserve the Miami Heat, Stafford deserve Sean McVeigh. Saquon Barkley had earned the right to play with the great O line and the Philadelphia Eagles. So the Dodgers lineup, this is really interesting folks. They are so good. Once they get to your bullpen. Dodgers don't necessarily lead all the time. They you can keep the Dodgers bats at bay with strong starting pitching. Garrett Cole did this a couple of times in the World Series. But they will eat your bullpen alive. Especially if you get to your second reliever. So last year they led baseball in comeback wins. Last year, nobody in baseball scored more runs, eighth inning or after. So, you know, yesterday is typical. Dodgers fall behind and they just start chipping away and chipping away. And then they tie it in the eighth, and then they win it in the ninth with Shohei. And here is the walk off by the legend. High fly ball to center field. Harris is back. Oh, tiny.

[J. Mac]

Inevitable.

[Joy Taylor]

Every single night they do something that makes you say, wow, how much fun is this? You just feel that he's gonna do something special. And I just like the way he's not pressing. He's in the strike zone. And when he does that, you know, there's just not. There's no one better. Yeah. Great players, in my opinion, deserve the right for great moments. You see these iconic photos of d. Wade and LeBron or Luca and LeBron on the dunks. Is that that's what they deserve? And, well, Colin, you're for big brands. Cooper Flag could play anywhere. But at Duke, you can't triple team him. There's other players, and like Shohei Ohtani with the Angels, if he would have hit a home run for the Angels last night, it probably comes in a 7 to 4 loss. Right? And so, like, to me, part of going to Ohio State for football is that if you're a running back, you know, you'll have NFL offensive lineman, a highly compensated coaching staff. It doesn't mean you chose the easy route to play at Georgia or Michigan or Notre Dame or Ohio State or Texas. It means you don't have to carry the entire franchise. The late Kobe Bryant, you know, people, he didn't mind being the man. He threatened to go to Chicago. He didn't want to be the only man. He's like, you got to give me somebody else. And so I get. When five star recruits in high school go to, like, big brands, it's not just the money. It's. I'm playing with other great players. And in baseball, what you don't want is a Joey Votto in Cincinnati where Votto gets the bag, but who's hitting in front of him? Who's hitting after him? Can you afford pitchers or is Votto just homering and driving in four runs in another 8 to 5 loss? Like, great players want to play with great managers. And the Dodgers are so well funded. Like, you know, he could have homered last night, but who would hit in front of him or behind him? And if you were paying Otani what the Dodgers did and the Angels wouldn't have deferred payments that you'd have to have. You'd have no bullpen. It would be in a loss and we wouldn't talk about it. So another great moment for him and another good night. In sports tonight, Warriors, Lakers. Yep. It means a lot. It's a regular season game. There's about a half dozen to a dozen all season that you're like, oh, this is about seating. Late in the year, sometimes those Saturday night games, you know, the Celtics will be hosting the Cavs or the Celtics are playing in Golden State against the Warriors. Get those Saturday night ABC games like, oh, it's a big NBA game. This is a really big one. This is for seating.

[J. Mac]

Nuggets lost last night, which helps the Lakers. They're now third in the West.

[Joy Taylor]

That's right.

[J. Mac]

They win this, they put some separation between themselves and the Warriors.

[Joy Taylor]

A big Laker game tonight.

[J. Mac]

And Lakers have OKC coming up with two games and OKC is going for 70 wins. It's getting heated in the West. Colin and I like the Lakers chances tonight.

[Joy Taylor]

All right, Rocket Mortgage is giving every home one address. Rocket.com it's a single seamless homeownership platform to help you find, buy and sell, finance, even refinance your home. Everything you need under one roof. Just go to rocket.com rocket.com for the new home for all things home ownership. Rocket own the dream. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the iHeartRadio app.

[Jeremy Hobson]

We live in a divided country.

[Gilbert King]

I am a lifelong Republican with all.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Kinds of different people.

[Joy Taylor]

You know, I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother.

[Jeremy Hobson]

That's why we started the Middle with Jeremy Hobson. It's about bringing voices not from the extremes, but from the vast middle into the national conversation.

[J. Mac]

Anna, I'm calling from Las Vegas.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Each week we bring together an all star panel. Mark Cuban, so great to have you on the Middle.

[Joy Taylor]

Thanks for having me.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Jeremy, Neil Degrasse Tyson, welcome to the Middle.

[Colin Cowherd]

Thanks for having me.

[Jeremy Hobson]

And hear from ordinary Americans from all over the country on the most important issues.

[Joy Taylor]

Hi, my name is Venkat. I'm calling you from Atlanta, Georgia.

[Jeremy Hobson]

And when you subscribe to the Middle, you also get an episode each week called One Thing Trump did that focuses on just one item from the avalanche of news.

[Colin Cowherd]

We should be examining what our government spends its money on and are these jobs necessary and what are we doing here?

[Joy Taylor]

But that doesn't seem to be what we're doing in this situation?

[Jeremy Hobson]

Listen to the middle with Jeremy Hobson on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Gilbert King]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley season one.

[Joy Taylor]

I just knew him as a kid.

[Gilbert King]

Long, silent voices from his past came.

[Colin Cowherd]

Forward and he was just staring at me.

[Gilbert King]

And they had secrets of their own to share.

[Colin Cowherd]

Gilbert King. I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott.

[Gilbert King]

I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it.

[Colin Cowherd]

Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

[Gilbert King]

I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known.

[Colin Cowherd]

If the cops and everything would have done their job properly, my dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed.

[Gilbert King]

I never expected to find myself in this place. Now I need to tell you how I got here.

[Colin Cowherd]

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.

[Gilbert King]

Bone Valley Season 2 Jeremy, Jeremy, I.

[Joy Taylor]

Want to tell you something.

[Gilbert King]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2 starting April 9 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear the entire new season ad free with exclusive content starting April 9th. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Joy Taylor]

You're now entering the no Bull Zone, sponsored by credible Great rates. None of the Bulls. So Carmelo Anthony was elected to the hall of Fame yesterday. He's obviously a first ballot hall of Famer, but I was at the gym yesterday and somebody came up and asked me, it was a Laker fan. He goes, why is Lucas so bad defensively? I mean, he's a great athlete. Why is he so bad defensively? And I said, well, it's like Carmelo Anthony. I have a belief that when you're so gifted early and, and you can identify it and everybody else can identify it, you're so gifted early, you know, 13, 14 years old in basketball, which is, let's be honest about the basketball culture in America. Go get buckets. You get paid and you get scholarships for getting buckets. And Carmelo was so gifted offensively at 13, 14, Lucas similarly, that it can stunt growth elsewhere. Both are bad defensive players. It's like, it's like the running quarterback. Why develop into a pocket quarterback in high school or college? You can just run and be successful sometimes. Running quarterbacks often never become great in the pocket or it takes them a while, you know, Jared Goff knew that was his only way to succeed. So Luca and Mello were so gifted, you know, Both were averaging 21 a game in the NBA as rookies. I mean, I mean, I mean Carmelo won the dunk contest. High school, McDonald's, Natty, 22 a game, unstoppable at college, 21 a game in the NBA. You don't really have to develop into a great defensive player. You're going to get paid, you're going to get attention, you're going to get a shoe off the offense Now. D. Wade played great defense. Why? Because he wasn't as gifted offensively. He was a grinder because he knew that was his way to attention, money and scholarships. D. Wade to the end was never a finesse, smooth offensive player. Not a three point shooting guy. He got his points on defense and toughness and playing bigger than his size. Now you could say, well, what about LeBron James? LeBron James was not as gifted offensively as Luca or Carmelo Anthony. At 16 years old, he was a better athlete. But LeBron James could not shoot a three pointer for years he was just a freight train. He was a locomotive. You couldn't stop him physically. He scored at the rim, he scored mid range. But he wasn't as smooth as Luka at 14, 15. Offensively he couldn't shoot like Carmelo Anthony at 16 or 17 years old. And so I think a lot of times you see this, and that was always my thing with Carmelo. It's, it's the burden of early greatness when people can spot it in the basketball culture. Like go get buckets is how you get shoes, fame and attention. You know, Tony Allen and Ben Wallace are great defensive players and have shoe deals. Not that I know of. So I think, you know, at 18, Luke is winning the Euro Cup MVP against older guys. And so you don't have to be as well rounded once offensively you are identified really in all sports, if you're identified, if you're known as a great hitter, people stick in right field, first base, dh right, you can hit your way to the bigs. There's been a lot of guys who have had great major league baseball careers that are reliability defensively, put him at first dhm. And so that's always my take on Carmelo is he and Luca, that was always my comp is that Luca is like a better version of Carmelo. I think he's a better passer and I think he's even a more natural score. He's a better outside shooter. Carmelo's an all time offensive scorer, but never in the best shape, you know, didn't take a step back, but you couldn't stop him. It got him 26 a game. There's nothing you could do. Couldn't stop in high school, couldn't stop him in college, couldn't stop him in the NBA and his prime. J. Mac with the news.

[Colin Cowherd]

No, no, no. Turn on the news.

[Joy Taylor]

This is the Herdline news.

[J. Mac]

All right, we got that big Lakers warriors matchup tonight at Crypto. We have not seen Luka Doncic face Jimmy Butler since Luca went to the Lakers and Butler went to the Warriors. Steve Kerr, very excited, talking about the impact Jimmy Butler's had on the Warriors.

[Joy Taylor]

Jimmy saved our season.

[Gilbert King]

The trade saved our season. Everybody knows that. Playoff Jimmy, you know, it's a real thing. I mean, he's a big time, big game performer at both ends.

[Joy Taylor]

Yes, he is. Who do you like tonight, by the way?

[J. Mac]

Lakers. Warriors are 18 and 2 when Curry.

[Joy Taylor]

And Butler both play at 120 when they go with a small lineup where Kaminga comes off the bench.

[J. Mac]

So how do you figure they defend? So Butler again against Luca or LeBron?

[Joy Taylor]

I would put Butler on Luca and.

[J. Mac]

Then that means Draymond on LeBron.

[Joy Taylor]

Yeah. Now, now I will say Jackson Hayes.

[J. Mac]

Is going to eat on the alley.

[Joy Taylor]

Oops.

[J. Mac]

Tonight. Luca, just drive and toss it up.

[Joy Taylor]

You'll get his 10 points. Warriors. Now, Warriors, I don't think have as many playmakers as the Lakers. Austin Reeves is playing great.

[J. Mac]

Oh, yeah.

[Joy Taylor]

But warriors have a better bench. I don't know how that plays in the regular season. It could play tonight.

[J. Mac]

No, this is a game where Curry will probably log 40 minutes. This is like, this is a huge game.

[Joy Taylor]

I think I'm trying to think of a bigger regular season NBA game than tonight. I don't. I think this is the biggest regular season game.

[J. Mac]

I mean, think about it. If the Lakers can solidify the three, Colin, the two seed is Houston. So the Lakers would open against the six and then play Houston second round. They're going to the conference finals if that happens. And that means SGA plays Jokic in the second round on the other half of the bracket. Lakers need this one bad. This is an empty the tank game. Austin Reeves, who's guarding Austin Reeves? Don't scoff at Austin Reeves.

[Joy Taylor]

Moses Moody.

[J. Mac]

Stop it.

[Joy Taylor]

What's wrong? Moses Moody can defend. What's. Hey, hey.

[J. Mac]

He's a good defender.

[Joy Taylor]

Staff here is like thumbs up.

[J. Mac]

I want to go head to head on this one. You take your Warriors.

[Joy Taylor]

I, I, okay, I'll take the. I think the Lakers. I'LL take the Warriors. You gotta give me what's, what's the line?

[J. Mac]

Two and a half.

[Joy Taylor]

Lakers minus. Two and a half. Yeah.

[J. Mac]

I don't love that.

[Joy Taylor]

Okay, if you give me two and a half, I'll take the Warriors.

[J. Mac]

Deal.

[Joy Taylor]

Okay. I don't feel, I don't feel great about it.

[J. Mac]

And you're going to disappear to parts unknown with the Lakers win. Next story is the Baltimore Ravens. Owner Steve Bischati spoke with the media at the NFL meetings this week. He was asked about his vision for the Ravens for the next 30 years. Here's what Bashadi said.

[Joy Taylor]

Impatience is good for you. I don't like waiting 12 years. I want to win now. I know what we can do. I know that we work to put ourselves in position to win and we all get credit for that. And, and that's all you can do. And I, I hate it that every year you just have to start back over again. But you know what? This is not for the meek. Yeah. I mean, it would be a shame if they are this good. They have been. Is there an argument? They have been the best regular season team in the NFL for three straight years. I mean they have BL. I'll say this. They have blown out more top 10 teams in the league than anybody else the last three years.

[J. Mac]

In the regular.

[Joy Taylor]

I mean, they blew out Detroit. They remember a couple of years ago when they just. They blew out Miami and Detroit and San Francisco. They blow out. Out in the regular season. Very good. Playoff.

[J. Mac]

Why don't they do that in the playoffs?

[Joy Taylor]

Well, they're just. It just. They out think the room sometimes. I mean. But don't blame Lamar. Oh, well, it's a couple of drops by his reliable weapons.

[J. Mac]

So we have a chart. I don't know where this column.

[Joy Taylor]

Where'd the chart come from?

[J. Mac]

Seasons with multiple playoff wins for quarterbacks who have multiple MVPs. Now this, this is crazy. Lamar, I didn't know this. Lamar Jackson's never had a postseason where he won two games ever. It's win loss or lose in the first.

[Joy Taylor]

Listen, I'm, I, I have no argument here. You win the argument.

[J. Mac]

It's obscure, but it's like, why can't you just back to back playoff.

[Joy Taylor]

He's also the youngest quarterback on that list. He's. He is a very young kid. Yeah.

[J. Mac]

Patrick Mahomes is a young kid.

[Joy Taylor]

Well, Patrick Mahomes is older than him, I think. What is Lamar Jackson, 26 years old. He's like one of the. It's incredible how young he is.

[J. Mac]

He is. Yeah, it is.

[Joy Taylor]

The discussion where this chart came from.

[J. Mac]

I did not ask him to build it.

[Colin Cowherd]

I don't know.

[J. Mac]

You. You can find out during the next commercial break. But.

[Joy Taylor]

So he's 28. So he's just entering his prime.

[J. Mac]

He's got, he's got two MVPs already. He's been in his prime now.

[Joy Taylor]

I would say you enter your prime in the NFL, like 20s. Is it. Well, because you go to college longer, probably 25. Is your athletic prime to 33.

[J. Mac]

I mean, you can't just blame Lamar, right? You can't just blame Harbaugh. Like you said, Mark Andrews had a brutal drop or who knows how that game ends. Yeah, that's a rough one. Final story, Colin. Let's go back to the Cleveland Frowns. I'm sorry. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam. He made some interesting comments the last couple days. First, he admitted to Deshaun Watson deal was a mistake. And now he's sending a message to the highest paid player on his team. Here's what he said about Miles Garrett.

[Colin Cowherd]

Foreign.

[J. Mac]

We've challenged Miles because we want to see his practice habits, his actions and become a real leader of the team. And he has said he do that and we're hopeful he will be. So you pay him all the money and then you challenge him to be a real leader. What are we doing?

[Joy Taylor]

Well, first of all, what I don't like about that is you are insinuating, which nobody outside the building knew, that he's not currently a leader.

[J. Mac]

Also true.

[Joy Taylor]

If my bosses came out and said, you know, we just, just we gave Colin a new contract, we're hoping now that he becomes more of a leader. Well, so you're saying I didn't have any leadership qualities? Like, why would you say that publicly? It's not like Miles Garrett is combative or disruptive. Some guys are not big talkers. Aaron Donald was not a big talker like some, I mean, would Jeter a big talker like, I know what I get with Miles Garrett. A transformational rush in everything else. All that Lawrence Taylor, was he a great leader? I. I don't know. I mean, I do think Max Crosby does feel a little bit like the heartbeat of, of his defense. I.

[J. Mac]

Your boy.

[Joy Taylor]

Yeah, well, he's a, he's great.

[J. Mac]

Yeah.

[Joy Taylor]

I think, you know, there are certain defensive guys. Khalil Mack has a reputation with the Chargers. He is good in the room. Like, he, he is a guy that, like, he, they guys rally around him. Derwin James has that. Derwin and Khalil Mack for the Chargers, those guys, they are very respected and, and willing to share some thoughts in the locker room.

[J. Mac]

Doesn't it feel like a. Another jab at DeSean Watson, calling it a mistake and now basically saying your quarterback's not a leader? I mean Watts, it has to be over. Which leads me back to Shador. I'm sorry to keep coming back to it, but how would they not take him? Who's their guy? Jackson Dart. Kirk Cousins. Kirk frickin Cousins. Colin. I don't, I don't get it. Maybe they're going to get Travis Hunter at two and then trade back into the first at the back of the first round against your door. I don't know. But they need a quarterback.

[Joy Taylor]

Yeah.

[J. Mac]

How many teams where the defensive end or pass rusher is the leader of the team?

[Joy Taylor]

Well, Raiders.

[J. Mac]

That's it.

[Joy Taylor]

Yeah. And they're not great. So yeah. You'd like your quarterback to be paying.

[J. Mac]

Him the franchise money.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah.

[Joy Taylor]

J. Mac with the news. Well, that's the news and thanks for stopping by the herd line news. So we're just giving you on a daily basis like to just give you an update on the last quote. Great quarterback in the NFL still on the market. So there's a report now the Steelers have gotten some sort of fairly loose assurance from Aaron Rodgers. Fairly loose actually describes Aaron over the last several years. What I'm really interested in is the Steelers over under on wins next year is eight and a half. Where does it go when he's officially a Steeler? My guess is nine and a half or it's possible the people in Vegas have already baked it in. So eight and a half. Mason Rudolph, nine and a half. Aaron Rodgers. I mean that's, that's, that kind of tells you where he's at. So you know, it's interesting is Brett Favre had a very good second act in Minnesota. Brady had a very good second act in Tampa. Peyton Manning had one in Denver. Matt Stafford's had one with the Rams. Joe Montana was a pro Bowler with the Kansas City Chiefs. Aaron's career, kind of a slow regression in Green Bay and it appears to be a very messy end. As the kids say, he messed around and found out. And I will say this. There, there, there. You know, there are two Hollywood endings for older actors. You get a couple of great roles, you ride off into the sunset as an icon or box office bomb and it's kind of sad, kind of a sad trombone of an ending. You know I will say this. It's not really a criticism. It's a reality. This is not a criticism. I think there is a cost to being a free spirit in a very corporate world. I mean if you go look at Hollywood and music, you know, music's the arts, Hollywood's the arts. Who's aged well? Jagger, Bono, Hanks, Denzel Cruz and Morgan Freeman, Meryl Streep, they're artists, but they're like and they may be, you know, again, all artists are kind of independent personalities but they'll play the game. They understand the corporate reality of the world. And there is a cost associated with being really independent in a corporate world. Music, a lot of burnouts. Hollywood, a lot of ugly endings. And you look at all these great quarterbacks. They all had really good second acts. Montana and Peyton and Brady, even Favre. They had really, really good second acts. And Aaron's is, you know, it does, I mean I just think Pittsburgh is going to be a mess. I, I, I don't, I don't, you know and I'll just put it out there. I have defended Aaron. I thought his last 10 games last year, some of it was stat padding but I thought he was pretty good. He doesn't move very much anymore. But you know, I think Pittsburgh looks, it feels like Hard knocks is coming around the corner between DK Metcalf lost. Their left tackle lost. Najee Harris came out and said a couple of weeks ago they have no identity. The Steelers don't have an offensive identity but apparently he's given loose assurances that he'll be a Steeler. And again they're eight and a half win total. Let me ask you this J. Mac Steelers are eight and a half. You know they do halves on over and unders. Obviously. You bet the over the under today. Would you go over under eight and a half. Steelers with Mason Rudolph today also. So would I. Aaron Rodgers. Let's say it stays at eight and a half. They already baked it in. Aaron Rodgers, eight and a half.

[J. Mac]

I'd want to see the schedule but I would lean under.

[Joy Taylor]

So would I. I mean what if.

[J. Mac]

They open with if it moved at.

[Joy Taylor]

Nine and a half, it's one of the better under.

[J. Mac]

No, no, it would probably go the other way.

[Joy Taylor]

Right.

[J. Mac]

It's not going to nine and a half. That much respect for Mike Tomlin that he can move mountains and get it get a team over 500 again.

[Joy Taylor]

I mean I, I will say this every year like last year we did. You did a good job on this. We every year you can kind of see train wrecks coming and Chicago Bears were a Great example. Last year you had a defensive coach on the hot seat. You had Caleb Williams coming in. The division was really good. And the front office, we didn't really trust the Bears. I think I picked them for third or fourth. You could see the mess coming.

[J. Mac]

Did they start two zero or something? They started Will.

[Joy Taylor]

Levis gave him a win. So. Yeah, so, so you. But you could see. You can. Generally, in the NFL, you can see the mess coming. Right, Like. And that was it. If I said to you, because Chicago is not going to be a mess next year, they may not be great.

[J. Mac]

But schedule is absolutely brutal for Chicago. We'll see the order, but it looks very treacherous.

[Joy Taylor]

There's not a lot of great. There's not a lot of great defenses on their schedule. There's some good teams.

[J. Mac]

I've backed off Bears in the playoffs.

[Joy Taylor]

So if I said to you, oh, man, that thing got ugly, I feel like Pittsburgh's it.

[J. Mac]

Pittsburgh or Dallas.

[Joy Taylor]

Right? Yeah. DK Metcalf. Pickens. Older Aaron Rodgers. Shaky at left tackle. No. Najee Harris. Defensive culture. I mean, all of a sudden you get a T.J. watt injury. He's out for four weeks. They. They start bleeding a little bit on defense, and it's like he's got a throw. You got two receivers that want it. Metcalf's now one of the highest paid guys in the league. He's going to demand the ball. Pickens not making anything because he's a kid. First average contract. So he's going to have a chip on his shoulder. Like, Pittsburgh is a better version of the mess that was the Bears last year. Potentially.

[J. Mac]

Yeah. And there's the. Then there's the reports about the prickly OC and Aaron Rodgers personality. And that could be kind of an oil and water deal where it just doesn't go well. So there's a lot of. Yeah, I think that's. That might be a good bet right now if you're headed to Vegas this weekend. Just take the under blindly, regardless of what Rogers does.

[Joy Taylor]

So it's. It's eight and a half right now on the Steelers.

[J. Mac]

That's steep.

[Joy Taylor]

It's my guess if Aaron moves it up to nine and a half, it is one of the better under bets.

[J. Mac]

Yeah. I would ride with Young.

[Joy Taylor]

And remember you say, well, I mean, there was drama with the Steelers with Lavian Bell. Big Ben was in his prime. Aaron is not in his prime. Big Ben was still at that point able to move. I mean, Antonio Brown and Lavian Belt. There was drama. But Big Ben was playing at such a high level that you can overcome some of that, that the Aaron could overcome some of that six years ago. He's not going to overcome that stuff now. By the way, the Cowboys are weird. So they did something again yesterday and somebody has to explain it to me. I don't get it. Diana Rossini, Top of the hour on the very latest stuff, musings around the NFL live in la, it's the Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific. Hey, Steve Covino. And I'm Rich Davis. And together we're Covino and Rich on FOX Sports Radio. You can catch us weekdays from 5 to 7pm Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. And of course, the iHeartRadio app. Why should you listen to Covino and Rich? We talk about everything, life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world. We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture, stories that, well, other shows don't seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact that we've been friends for the last 20 years and still work together, I mean, that says something, right? So check us out. We like to get you involved, too. Take your phone calls, chop it up, as they say. I'd say the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive show on planet Earth. Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on Fox Sports radio and the iHeartradio app from 5 to 7pm Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific. And if you miss any of the live show, just search Ko Vino and Rich, wherever you get your podcast. And of course, on social media, that's Covino and Rich.

[Jeremy Hobson]

We live in a divided country.

[Joy Taylor]

I am a lifelong Republican with all.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Kinds of different people.

[Joy Taylor]

You know, I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother.

[Jeremy Hobson]

That's why we started the Middle with Jeremy Hobson. It's about bringing voices not from the extremes, but from the vast middle into the national conversation.

[J. Mac]

Anna, I'm calling from Las Vegas.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Each week we bring together an all star panel. Mark Cuban, so great to have you on the Middle.

[Joy Taylor]

Thanks for having me, Jeremy.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Neil degrasse Tyson, welcome to the Middle.

[Colin Cowherd]

Thanks for having me.

[Jeremy Hobson]

And hear from ordinary Americans from all over the country on the most important issues.

[Joy Taylor]

Hi, my name is Venkat. I'm calling you from Atlanta, Georgia.

[Jeremy Hobson]

And when you subscribe to the Middle, you also get an episode each week called One Thing Trump did that focuses on just one item from the avalanche of news.

[Colin Cowherd]

We should be examining what our government spends its money on and are these jobs necessary and what are we doing here?

[Joy Taylor]

But that doesn't seem to be what.

[Colin Cowherd]

We'Re doing in this situation.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Listen to the middle with Jeremy Hobson on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Gilbert King]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season one.

[Joy Taylor]

I just knew him as a kid.

[Gilbert King]

Long silent voices from his past came.

[Colin Cowherd]

Forward and he was just staring at me.

[Gilbert King]

And they had secrets of their own to share.

[Colin Cowherd]

Gilbert King I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott.

[Gilbert King]

I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it.

[Colin Cowherd]

Every time I hear about my dad is, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

[Gilbert King]

I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known.

[Colin Cowherd]

If the cops and everything would have done their job properly, my dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed.

[Gilbert King]

I never expected to find myself in this place. Now I need to tell you how I got here.

[Colin Cowherd]

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.

[Gilbert King]

Bone Valley Season 2 Jeremy, Jeremy, I.

[Joy Taylor]

Want to tell you something.

[Gilbert King]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2 starting April 9 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear the entire new new season ad free with exclusive content starting April 9th. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on.

[J. Mac]

Apple Podcasts as he leads the defending champion Dodgers in a must watch early season showdown against Bryce Harper in the Phillies Saturday at 4 Eastern on FS1.

[Joy Taylor]

That's at Philadelphia. That's going to be great. So this is weird to me. We all know somebody said something this morning during our kind of staff prep meeting that I thought was interesting. That Jerry Jones was threatened by Bill Parcells and Jimmie Johnson. You know, they were getting the star coach was getting attention and they've only had really one star first round quarterback since Jerry's been there, and that's Troy Aikman, obviously. And Troy Aikman is closer to Jimmy Johnson than Jerry Jones from what I can tell. But Diana Rossini broke this story. Now, I like Joe Milton the third. I don't think he's a franchise quarterback, but I think he has some real talent. The Patriots are trading him. He had a good preseason last year. He was a seventh round pick. He's going to Dallas now for a fifth rounder. So he's gone from a seventh rounder to a fifth rounder in a weak Draft and I like the kid. And Dax, 32, second surgery. He brings athleticism to the locker room, I guess. But they gave up a fourth rounder for Trey Lance, which I did not think at the time was a brilliant move because Kyle Shanahan makes everybody work at quarterback. And Kyle Shanahan knew it would be embarrassing to bail on Trey Lance and they did. And then Jerry gave up a fourth rounder. And then Jerry gave up a fifth rounder for Joel Milton, who's a clear backup. And he gave up a fifth rounder for Mingo, the wide receiver from Carolina. It's like timeout, timeout. You understand? The Rams, Puka Nakua, their star receiver, and Kyron Williams, their star running back, were both fifth rounders. Fifth rounders can be start. George Kittle, in this league is a fifth rounder. The Niners, Joanne Jennings, wide receiver I think he's a six rounder. Brock Purdy, seventh rounder. There's a lot of talent in this league. You can't just give out 4th and 5th round picks for receivers who are not only backups, they're borderline non NFL players. I mean, I'm not even sure. Trey Lance, not really an NFL player. Mingo, I'm not sure he is. So in the Cowboys, it's weird. Since 1990, so this is a pretty big sample size. It's 35 years. The Cowboys have only drafted seven quarterbacks. None in the first one in the second. This is the biggest brand in the NFL for most of my adult life. They just don't draft quarterbacks. Now, Tony Romo was successful and undrafted, so they did hit an undrafted home run. They deserve credit for that. But it's, I mean, I didn't like the Mingo draft pick giveaway, the Lance draft pick giveaway, and now a fifth rounder for a guy that's not going to play, hopefully. And this is not the Philadelphia Eagles or the Lions, where you gotta, you got kind of a stacked roster. Like the Cowboys need to hit on fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh round picks. They've got to hit on some of these because we got a story this week that the Cowboys are going to pay Micah $200 million or that's kind of the number. So it's just, I will be honest, it's. It's. They're strange. The Cowboys are strange. Here's something else I saw. So they just had the NFL meetings. Ben Johnson is the new coach of the Bears and he was doing some talking and one of the things he brought up, it's. It's It's a very confusing analytic, so I'm going to try to simplify this as much as I can. It's called epa Expected Points Added. So Ben Johnson, the Bears coach, was talking about, he thinks it's the number one quarterback stat in the league now. It used to be turnovers, like if you turn the ball over, you lost the game. And he said that's not really. That's not really true anymore. He said it's. This is a very complicated analytic. And the way I would describe the EPA analytic is, as a quarterback, do you put your team in a position to win in this analytic? Quarterback sacks are a killer. Get rid of the ball and just not turning it over. That's not it. If you're throwing 42 times a game, you can have an interception as long as you don't throw it in the red zone. So here's Ben Johnson talking about the improvement of Caleb Williams. You go back to the basics, and so it's the fundamentals of the quarterback position.

[Colin Cowherd]

What's our foot look going to look like under center from the shotgun? What are we calling the formations?

[Joy Taylor]

We got to get on the same page because it'll be a little bit different for him than what he experienced last year.

[Colin Cowherd]

And if we can mesh together and.

[Joy Taylor]

Start speaking the same language, that's when.

[Colin Cowherd]

Things will really start to take off.

[Joy Taylor]

So the Bears, interestingly, the over under on The Bears is 8 1/2 wins, and that's what it was last year. So I don't know what they're going to be. But here's why the Ben Johnson hire is really important. If Caleb Williams doesn't look like a franchise quarterback by early October, then he's not going to be. They have a really nice offensive line now. They've got really good weapons. They may pick up a running back in the first round. So they have a competent offensive coach who is cerebral. Like, I don't love Justin Fields, but he went from Bears Steelers to Jets. Defensive coach, defensive coach, defensive coach. I don't love Justin Fields, but. But he never found his guru. You're gonna, you'll. You'll know within four to five games if Caleb Williams is the guy. It doesn't take long. I mean, remember, Sean McVeigh went to the Rams. Golf looked like a bust. And through the first four weeks, Golf had a 112 passer rating. Jaden Daniels, it wasn't even a head coach. Had a really good coordinator and not a very good O line and not much of a run game. And one receiver and not great tight end production. And Jaden Daniels in his first four weeks had a 107 passer rating. Sam Darnold finally got an offensive coach in Kevin OConnell. First four games in Minnesota. 119 passer rating. So by October 1st, I'll know. You'll know, Ben Johnson will know. Everybody in the Bears will know if Caleb's going to be the guy or not. It does not take a long time if you get a very erudite, smart offensive guy. We knew with C.J. stroud and Bobby Slowik. We knew in the first month. Burrow in the first month. Golf with McMahon, the first month. Darnold with Kevin O'Connell. First month. Jaden Daniels with Cliff Kingsbury. We knew in the first month. I mean, I was never a huge Cam Newton fan, but we kind of knew five games in. Yeah, that doesn't look like everybody else. So this, you know, this, this idea that it's like, let's look over the course of a season and for me, it's not a win loss thing again, the packers have better players and a better culture, and the Lions have way better players and a dominant offensive line to control the games. And Minnesota is now got like, between Brian Flores and Kevin O'Connell. That's one of the best staffs in football. So if the Bears finished fourth and won nine games, it's like, that just may be what it is. But you're going to be able to. You're going to. When you listen to Ben Johnson talk about EPA and stuff like this and, and what that EPA basically is over the course of a game, if you look at individual plays, are you getting rid of the really negative plays? Sacks are a killer. Caleb Williams got sacked too much. So Ben Johnson, who clearly now is running the show, comes in Pro bowl center, Pro bowl guard, starting left guard. Like, they made the O line the priority. And my guess is, and this is why I think it's important sometimes to just do something. Like sometimes in life, you're like, I don't know if I should do this. I don't know if I should just do it because it'll create clarity. Like sometimes you're like, I'm not sure if I should take this job. I'm not sure if I'm ready for this job. Take the job. Because if you're not ready for a tough job, it's better to know now so you can start building toward it. Go for it. Three words that generally solve puzzles. Go for it. Do things. And you'll find out if you're over your skis. So Ben Johnson, every time I've heard him talk, I'm like, this guy's really smart. It does not take long. I mean, you go back to what McVeigh took over, the Rams were a mess and McVeigh got a left tackle. Better coaching first month, you're like, yeah, golf works. And, and, and I think Caleb Williams is significantly more firepower athletically than Jared Goff. So you've got a dimension. You'll have a third of a playbook you can't use with golf. So I, I, you know, it, but it, it is interesting. I mean, and for the record, you know, you think I'm critical of Baker Mayfield when Baker Mayfield got Liam Cohen, the right offensive coordinator. First four games in Tampa, 101.5 passer rating or Dave Canales, my bad. So it's like, it doesn't take long. You're speaking the same language. So I'm, I, I, you'll know by October 1st. The Bears will know. You'll know, I know, we'll know if it works or not. It's not going to be a slow growth thing. You're going to need like 13 games. No, it's not. Because there is such a gap in this league and I always use Belichick and Brady as an example. I don't think people understand it. There is such a gap in this league between offensive coaches and how they understand quarterbacks and O lines and defensive coaches. If you go look at offensive line rankings, the bottom five to six teams the last several years are almost all defensive coaches. If you go look at the top seven to eight offensive lines the last half decade, they're almost all offensive coaches. So it's not just going to be Caleb Williams. Ben Johnson's going to fix the O line. Which wasn't it weird last year with Eberfluss? We thought going into the year it was okay to maybe slightly better than okay. It was a disaster. It got worse. Tomlin can't figure out the O lines. In Seattle, Pete Carroll struggled. What unit? The offensive lines. So it's taken a while for Sean McDermott outside of left tackle to get the O lines right. In Buffalo, Dion Dawkins has been great, but it's been a little musical chairs and they can't quite get it. They finally got the run game in the O line right after years and years of struggling.

[J. Mac]

So I'm with you on Ben Johnson. Genius, mastermind. I like it. Colin, I looked up the opponents. Are you ready for the Bears Road games this season.

[Joy Taylor]

I am. Let's go.

[J. Mac]

They obviously. Detroit and Green Bay in the division.

[Joy Taylor]

Split with those teams and Minnesota, the wind.

[J. Mac]

We'll see. They also have to go to Baltimore. That's a loss to Cincinnati to face Joe Burrow. Yeah. Probably a loss to the Eagles, the defending super bowl champion. To your boy Jaden Daniels and Washington.

[Joy Taylor]

Yeah.

[J. Mac]

And oh, by the way to Kyle Shanahan and San Francisco. Colin, the other road game is against the Raiders.

[Joy Taylor]

Okay.

[J. Mac]

I don't know if they're going to win two road games.

[Joy Taylor]

Okay, let's say they don't. Let's say they lose all those games and give me one win there, I'll.

[J. Mac]

Give you the Raiders and the Niners. And who?

[Joy Taylor]

The Niners.

[J. Mac]

I'll give you the Vikings instead.

[Joy Taylor]

Fine.

[J. Mac]

Two road games. Okay.

[Joy Taylor]

Okay. So if they win their home games, that's a 10 win team.

[J. Mac]

Okay.

[Joy Taylor]

So the home.

[J. Mac]

The home schedule is favorable. They do get Dallas at home. Should be a win.

[Joy Taylor]

The New York Giants win. Cleveland frowns.

[J. Mac]

Pittsburgh Steelers, New Orleans Saints. So that's favorable. And then the three in the division. So you're right. With a lot of stacking home wins, maybe there's a chance they get to 500 or above. I don't think this is a playoff team.

[Joy Taylor]

Yeah, close. Yeah, they're gonna lose to Philly and Baltimore without question. On the road. Everything else is winnable. Niners lose home games all the time and. But remember, it's overcast W for the Bears. It's a little sprinkly. Give me a W. This guy. Diana Rossini's around the corner. I still can't get over Ohtani.

[Jeremy Hobson]

We live in a divided country, and our media couldn't be more polarizing. That's why we started the Middle with Jeremy Hobson. It's about bringing voices not from the extremes, but from the vast middle into the national conversation. Each week, we hear from ordinary Americans from all over the country. And when you subscribe to the Middle, you also get an episode each week called One Thing Trump did that focuses on just one item from the avalanche of news. Listen to the Middle with Jeremy Hobson on the iHeartRadio, Apple, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Gilbert King]

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season one.

[Colin Cowherd]

Every time I hear about my dad is, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil.

[Gilbert King]

I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known.

[Colin Cowherd]

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer.

[Gilbert King]

Listen to new episodes of bone Valley Season 2, starting April 9 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.